Let's Eat

My friend Lynne gave me this little round mesh birdfeeder a few years ago.  It's designed to feed black oil sunflower seeds, but I fill it with cardinal mix (containing sunflower seeds -- shelled & whole, safflower seeds, and shelled peanuts).  All of the birdies love this feeder and to alleviate the mess of shells on the patio below, I added a tray feeder beneath to help catch the mess, plus it give the birds another place for dining.  I have this feeder hanging right outside the dining room window so I can enjoy the view of the amazing variety of birds the feeder attracts.

 Red-Bellied Woodpecker (male)

Pine Siskins really love it!

Pine Siskin & Cardinal

Black-Capped Chickadee & Downy Woodpecker

Female Cardinal & House Sparrows

Goldfinches

More Goldfinches

Stereo Chickadees

Thanks for this feeder Lynne!  My birds and I really enjoy it!



Nocturnal Surprises

Squirrel, these are for you..... :-)

Since archery deer hunting season is coming to a close, Mr. Johnson decided to bring his trail camera home and put it up in the backyard. The corn trays have been emptied nightly and we wanted to see just exactly when and how many nocturnal visitors were showing up in the backyard. NOTES: the date & time stamps on the photos aren't correct -- these photos were taken from Sunday nite (12/16) into Monday morning (12/17). Also, these photos were taken about 5 yards from our basement walk-out patio door....

With our current point restrictions, this isn't a legal buck, but he might be a good one to watch our for next season...

oh, hello!  more visitors arriving....  

hungry!

I think there's only room for 1 buck here!

In all photos of this guy, he seems to be favoring his left hind leg

Looks like there's something wrong with his "knee"

It's obviously swollen and it doesn't appear that he's able to put any weight on it either

Checking out the suet!

I don't think this doe is gonna let this sorry little buck stick around for long.....

Looks like this doe still has her fawns with her

You can see the little antler "buttons" on the deer to the left

Eyes in the background......

Now the deer are gone, so it's time for bunnies to clean up the leftovers.

(I didn't realize we had this many bunnies -- time for some visits by the Great Horned Owl!)

The corn in the tray is gone, so the deer try their luck with the hanging corncobs

This is pretty challenging because the corncobs move quite easily

it's kind of like "bobbing for apples"

there!  finally got it!

nom, nom, nom

here's another buck!

this makes a total of 3 different bucks visiting in just one evening

Bunny acrobatics

This hanging corn feeder was designed for squirrels.  They're really the only critter that's able to reach up to grab the corncob with their little paws and successfully munch on the corn. 

but the lack of "hands" doesn't stop this bunny from trying!

the camera even captured this bluejay attempting to get some corn

There's Holly!  Out for a little walk around the yard with her dad.

Holly Update

It's been almost a year already since Holly left the shelter to come and live with us here in her "forever home."  Every day we're treated to her happy smiles.

Holly did very well in her scholarly pursuits at PSU (Pet Smart University).  An additional benefit is that we learned quite a bit about dog training too ("it's all about the treats!")  I only wish that we had taken our previous three dogs to obedience school.  I would recommend this training to anyone who gets a new dog -- and even though Holly was 3 years old when she started school, she was a fast and excellent learner.  I believe more classes are probably in her future.

Holly would like us to look around for a doggie driver's education class......

We have found out over the past year that Holly is a champion napper.  What a difference from the three  energetic German Shorthaired Pointers we had as pets prior to Holly!  Holly does have her high energy moments, but mostly she's really laid back.  Holly will nap by herself......

but she actually prefers napping with her people!  She's usually right between us at night.

Holly also enjoys afternoon naps  -- especially on the couch with her mom!

We didn't know Holly was a lap dog when we got her, but she's gotten her dad trained to help her up on his lap when he sits down.

Holly loves to play.  This is a "soccer" game she plays with us in the kitchen when we're washing dishes.  She brings a toy over by the sink and then she stands in the doorway while we try to kick it past her.  This is Holly's "goalie" stance.

I'm having a lot of fun dressing Holly up.  I discovered lots of cute doggy apparel and accessories at BaxterBoo.com.  They even carry Holly's "big girl" sizes.  Holly's a pretty good sport about wearing everything I buy for her -- even though she won't appreciate the benefits of this hoodie keeping her ears warm until the colder weather gets here.

When we have Holly out in public (which we try to do as often as possible), everyone always comments on what a pretty dog she is.  We think she's quite beautiful and have never experienced (knock on wood) any negative comments from people because she's a pitbull.  She's very friendly to people of all ages and sizes and I'm always thrilled when little kids come over to pet her and she gives them a "kiss."  (She's a super kisser!)  Every day is a new opportunity for us to help change people's minds about the negative, "vicious pitbull" stereotype.

When we adopted Holly, we had to sign a Dog Adoption Contract.  One of the points we had to agree to is as follows, "I agree to provide this animal with.......loving, humane treatments at all times."  I think we've accomplished that and Holly has paid us back ten-fold with joy and happiness every day.

Here's a little video of Holly at her tail-waggin' best.....

A Trip to the Alpaca Expo

We took a trip last Sunday over to Owatonna for the Minnesota Alpaca Expo.  This was such a fun event for us last year that we decided to make the trip again.  Alpacas are not the friendliest creatures -- they don't really care to be petted or even have strangers standing very close to them.  However, I was able to photograph some of the many different colors and cute faces that we saw at this show and wanted to share them with you in this post.

 No, this wasn't a talking alpaca -- just happened to snap the picture in "mid-chew"

No ears on this guy!  Their ears are very expressive and it seemed like when something was going on they didn't like, the ears went down or back......extreme paparazzi disapproval here!

Pretty gray coloring on this alpaca (I was seeing yarn shades.....)

Alpaca Kiss!

I really liked the colors on this one!

And look at this beautiful dark, dark brown color......like french roast coffee or dark chocolate!

This is Fancy Pants, sporting a fashionable hat and heading off to the show ring

Three different colored alpacas from the same farm (notice two have ears but one is in "no photos, please!" mode)

This sweet little gray one was watching some activity at the pen across the way.

This was also a fiber show and not limited to alpacas -- the angora bunnies were there!

along with their angora bunny babies!  I love angora -- it makes the softest (but very expensive!) yarn.

These guys were anxious to get back on the road to their home in Wisconsin.

I bought only 1 skein of yarn.  This colorway is called Ripe Tomato.

There's 500 yards in the skein and I'll be using it to knit this shawl. Can't wait to get started on it......