No Coffee in the Jar

Red-Winged Blackbirds

Agelaius phoeniceus

I knew when I went to bed last night that I was out of coffee. Thought I could get by just reheating some of the leftover coffee that was still in the pot. Yuck! One of the perks (pun intended) of living in town is good coffee from a shop that is no more then ten minutes away. Since it is Saturday I had time to sit down with my coffee and work on finishing "The Pursuit of God." I was too distracted to finish this little book.

One of my favorite sounds in spring is the call of the Red-winged blackbird. I could hear them all up and down the gully while Bomber and I were walking this morning.

As a reward for walking next to me like a good boy, Chris' little firecracker, Bomber, gets to go play ball in the morning before either of us has breakfast. He isn't really interested in the birds, though he loves the scent of the suet. For the most part many of the birds will come even if he is out, but they keep an eye on him.

The Bushtits come in, one at a time, for suet. Usually there are about five of them. These may have been the little guys that I thought was a Veiro. Up on the fence is a Pine Siskin. Usually none of the other birds will mess with the Siskins. They just move away from the feeder until the Siskin has had enough. I guess that these little guys are the exception.

Bomber waiting for someone to throw the ball. If I ask him to "find the ball" he generally will. Sometimes he will even bring it to me.

Chris has been encouraging to catch the ball and he is rather impressive with the jumps and twists that he will do to catch it.


Our neighbors have a beagle who makes that noise that only beagles can make EVERY time one of us goes outside. In the summer, if I am out weeding he just keeps howling (or whatever that sound is called). I have been noticing that he is quiet when we have Bomber with us. Humm.




These were both hand-held from across the yard, so they are a little shaky. There is a house finch and I don't know what else.

It isn't supposed to rain today but you cannot tell from the look of the sky. The report tells me that the fog will roll off. We shall see.




An Oregon Dark-eyed Junco. In Robe they were all a pinkish hew on their breast. Here there are so many shades from grey to a brick color that at first I thought I was seeing new birds.

Wow! Does that fence ever need a fresh coat of stain. Ray power-washed it last summer and it looked great, but then we ran out of money before we could stain it.