This and that

Yesterday morning I awoke at 3 AM, which is nothing unusual.  I played all the Words With Friends games awaiting me, I read for awhile.  I drank my coffee.  Around 6 AM I remembered I had some over-ripe bananas in the freezer.  I'm assuming all my readers know that if you have over-ripe bananas and don't want to make banana bread that very day, you can put them in the freezer in a baggie for later use.  You can, if you like, freeze them with the peel on, but they say it's messy getting the frozen peels off.  

Anyhow.  I remembered those bananas and thought what a nice surprise it would be for Cliff to wake up to banana-nut muffins, fresh out of the oven.  He always asks me to wake him at 7, so I figured they'd be done when he got up.  But wouldn't you know, he got up 20 minutes early and ruined my surprise.  Not only that, but I didn't even have his coffee ready.  I ordered him to go sit on the couch, and told him when I got time, I'd make his coffee.

So the surprise factor was gone, but he did enjoy the muffins.  

The first year we moved back behind the barn, I went crazy feeding and housing birds, birds I'd never even noticed when we lived up at the old house.  As I perused the Internet I found there were ways to attract bluebirds.  One thing suggested was a birdbath; my daughter and her husband had an extra one they brought over, and indeed, the bluebirds found it and put it to good use.  However, it was concrete, and so hard to clean up when it started growing mold, and I got rid of it.  So I bought a bluebird house.  I read online bluebirds like their houses to face east.  Really?  Why would that matter?  They also want low-traffic areas where there aren't people coming and going.  I found a bluebird house at Orscheln and Cliff put it on a fence post facing east.  I didn't have high hopes for the project, but bluebirds moved in almost immediately after it was placed out there, and have occupied it every spring and summer since, hatching a couple of batches of babies yearly.  I'd peek in the side that lifts up for cleaning, see those little blue eggs, and rejoice whole-heartedly every time.  Initially I worried about sparrows, since I read that they will take over a bluebird house, killing the babies in order to take over and use it themselves.  However, in all these... what, 10 or 12 years?... the only fighting I've seen is when the bluebirds first arrive and decide to nest.  The sparrows are waiting, ready to fight, but the bluebirds have always won the battle.  

Cliff was mowing the pasture yesterday and in the process of raising the mower and turning, bumped the post with the birdhouse on it.  He must have bumped it pretty hard, because he said all but one of the eggs were broken and the nest was on the ground.  He stuck the nest back in and placed the single unbroken egg in it.  I've seen the pair of bluebirds tending the nest since then, so I'm hoping they don't give up on their old home.  I bought another bluebird house and put it some distance from the original, but I forgot to tell Cliff and the grandson that it had to face east, so it's sitting empty so far, facing south.  And probably will until I get one of them to change it.

I follow a Nebraska author named Roger Welsch on Facebook.  He has made friends with crows:  He set up a feeding station for them and puts bread, hot dogs, and other delights out for them.  Now they watch for him, and as soon as he walks away they swoop down on it.  I am very jealous of him and his crows.  We have a flock of seven crows that fly over and often rest in the trees far in the distance on our property, but they don't intend to show themselves to me.  The best I can do is watch them fly over when they don't know I'm watching.  

Oh by the way, the morel mushrooms are popping up now.  The grandson and Heather have found a lot.  I miss mushroom hunting, but my knees just can't take the climbing.  I don't worry as much about eating them these days; actually, I just can't eat the volume of food I used to put down, and a lot of my tastes have changed.    

Today the oldest granddaughter and her mom came by; we needed a spreader to distribute grub killer on the yard, and Amber has one, so she brought it out for us to use.  We always have a nice visit.  The grandson came over and I made pancakes and sausage for everybody.  I had gone to the Methodist Church this morning:  Church starts at 9 AM because the preacher has to preach at two churches every Sunday morning, so she does the first of the two services early, in time to drive to the other one.  Anyhow, I was home at 10.  Next week I'll probably go to the Baptist church.  I like going to different ones.  I will say, the Baptists sing more of the old hymns I'm familiar with.

Gabe is still sticking to me like glue, and I only have to remind him about once a day that he has to come when I call him.  Honestly, although I got the little tool (I call it a zapper) hoping it would stop him barking at people so much, I wouldn't care whether it works for that or not, because in other areas it has made him such a good dog.  The only time I leash him to go outside now is when it's dark, simply because any kind of animal could be out there that he might chase.  But in daylight, the leash stays in the house.  I even walked with him back in the pasture yesterday and didn't have to worry.   

I'm still boycotting Walmart.  I'm sure I'll eventually go there looking for something I can't get elsewhere, but I'm doing my best to take my business elsewhere.  

Cliff got all the anti-freeze out of the camper, so it's about ready to go.  We're going to one of the nearer state parks for an overnight before long to make sure everything is ready for some use.  We can go any time, but right now it's COLD.  There'd be no problem heating the camper, but I don't want to be cramped up in a small space throughout another camping trip, like last year.  I want some good fishing weather.  

I believe that's all I've got, so I'll just stop right here.

Yours truly,
Donna