Shopping Online, Indoor Gardening, Pileated Woodpecker

 The little pond sported a thin covering of snow one morning recently. Neddy ventured onto it and, for the first time, the ice held his weight.  The lure of a stick is strong for that was what enticed him to toddle to the very middle. He gathered his prize and quickly hightailed it back to shore just as if he knew he was pushing his luck. 

The snow is not sticking but the ice is. Brr temperatures every day this past week as the season tips over into winter. 

Winter gardening is underway with the outdoor plants now inside. Fingers crossed I can keep them alive till spring. 

Heading quickly towards the shortest day of the year here in our hemisphere. The sunlight, when it does appear, is thinning. I'm questioning whether I should bother opening the curtains in the bedroom. 

Except I do enjoy this view below of the hydrangeas now wearing their brown autumn colours.

I heard a familiar drumming and grabbed my camera. It is always a treat to capture a few photos of the Pileated Woodpeckers. There is a second one there and this is usual for here...I spy two together quite often. 

Many of the trees here bear their marks.

My Christmas tree, which is heavily laden with bird ornaments, is up. Snowy owl is looking down again this year. 

I'm busy doing a little last minute shopping, all online. Here are three sites I enjoy scrolling through.

Hammacher Schlemmer

Lee Valley Tools

and 

Wild Bird Store Online

All have wonderful products and excellent service. Lee Valley Tools is Canadian and became well known when it was mentioned in an episode of the American sitcom, Parks and Rec. Here is an article featuring a chat with actor, Nick Offerman, telling how that came about.

Hope you are enjoying this time of year and remembering to relax as well. 

Happy to link with Our World Tuesday, Viewing Nature With Eileen and Paying Ready Attention. 

Coziest Season, Underground Fellows, Northern Flicker

  Thanks for visiting Neddy and me here at the Wooden House.

Our pond had the thinnest layer of ice laid across the top of it on Thursday morning and most of it has remained. This was a signal that winter is truly on its way and we should prepare ourselves.

  To that end, all the hats, scarves, mittens and gloves have been brought up from the basement to the front hall closet for easy reach. I start out the season with it all neatly organized but it isn't long before it is a jumbled mess. If any of you have organizing tips for this, please share!

These little guys have now disappeared underground. I sentimentally like to think of them snoozing and lounging while snacking too on the sunflower seeds they gathered from my feeders all summer. Like this one, cheeks full.                              

Sort of like this... Lore Pemberton's wonderful piece called "Holed Up". 

Check out more of this fabulous artist's work here.

This is the season that always makes me think of coziness, warmth, looking through LL Bean catalogues, sipping hot tea and building a firewood wall on the verandah. 

The feeders have been very busy. Though a lot of birds have disappeared, a number overwinter here and keep me busy spying on them. 

Love the way this fellow was using his tail for stability.

And that same morning by the pond, a Northern Flicker stayed around long enough for a couple of photos. 

I tried hard to capture the heart shaped red markings, but not quite.  Half a heart.

I've wondered why I love watching birds so much.  I must adore them is my conclusion. 

Hope there is something in your life you adore too!

Happy to link with Viewing Nature With Eileen and Our World Tuesday. 

Building Rabbit Houses, Making Stoup, Spying Blue

Neddy and I have been busy adding to /creating more rabbit houses scattered around our 10 acres. This is a fun activity in the fresh air and younger grandson joined me a few times last fall to help out.  He was eager to apply more design elements, LOL.

It will be fun to check on them after the snow falls to see if there are any tracks. 

With unusually warm temperatures this fall the chipmunks have been around a little longer but will soon be heading underground for the winter. 

It is especially fun to see them in spring when they race about with obvious excitement at being topside. They are a gentle kind of creature as far as I can tell. Feed quietly alongside the other critters and I've never seen any aggression from them. I've spied them far from the house twice, both emerging from old moss covered rock piles and I made sure to sprinkle extra peanuts there.

The blue jays squawking alerted me to the presence of a barred owl twice this week. I feel doubly lucky.

Sometimes I find a blue feather and keep it. Blue is such an unusual colour to find on the forest floor here in Ontario.

Neddy is growing; he is almost 70 pounds now. What a good dog he has been for us old folks. So quick to learn the necessary commands and especially lovable with us. 

 I made a pot of stoup...too thick to be soup and too thin to be stew.  I love to add whatever vegetables I have on hand; in this case cabbage, broccoli, carrots along with chick peas and a handful of pasta.  I added a container of chicken broth and a can of tomatoes too.  With grilled cheese sandwiches, it made a good supper for us with leftovers for lunch the next day. 

Has that happened to you?  You start out making soup and wind up with stoup?  

I hope your Sunday is going great!

So happy to share this post with Viewing Nature With Eileen, Our World Tuesday, Paying Ready Attention, My Corner of the World and I'd Rather B' Birdin".

Three Things Bird Lovers Will Love

 Our little pond hosts many visitors in spring, summer and fall.

 Spring and fall the chin strap Canada Geese drop by usually in pairs. 

And Mr. and Mrs. Mallard have visited every spring to date.

I love birds and here are three things I love and think bird lovers in general would enjoy.   

1. I follow this YouTube site, Lesley The Bird Nerd and love her plain talks about North American birds. I have read different views about feeding the birds, which I do, and enjoyed hearing her take on this topic in this video.

 2. I bought this book, Bird Cottage by Eva Meijer, which is a novel based on a true story.  The true story is intriguing and marvelous too.  At age 40, Len Howard decided to leave her life in London and retire to the countryside and devote the rest of her life to her great obsession, her love of birds.  Here is a link to it on Amazon.

3.I have gotten endless enjoyment from having a bird bath in the back yard. It has attracted so many different birds and I have been able to capture photos of several lifers for me. If you love to watch birds, I think you should consider getting a bird bath. 

Meanwhile the season is changing. Many of our leaves have fallen and our trails now look like this. Neddy sure enjoys his walks.

Daughter dropped us off these Halloween treats. 

And I finished my Halloween Sampler quilt in time to snuggle under it on Halloween night.

Thank you for visiting Neddy and me here at the wooden house. Have a great week all!

Happy to share this post with Paying Ready Attention, Our World Tuesday,  Viewing Nature With Eileen, I'd Rather B' Birdin' and My Corner of the World. 

Summer in Autumn, Deer Nests and Autumn's Palette

 Astonishingly, we had a little mini summer there for a few weeks in October. I'll tell you how much like summer it was.  The frogs began to croak again...such a familiar spring/summer sound but against the backdrop of the fall leaves, sounded odd. 

Also a number of plants and flowers experienced regrowth that was impressive.  

Here the purple globe thistle which had completely given up the ghost, decided to revive itself.

Occasionally I get to see exactly where a deer spent the night.  The grass is well beaten down and there is a circular pattern. Once I put my hand on it and thought of the animal that had lain there.  I hoped it had felt safe and had a good rest on our land. And one early morning I came across a deer still lying in its little night nest.

That same morning I was able to get a decent photo of a Mourning Dove perched on a tree by the pond.

Yesterday we wore our old bodies out doing outside chores that needed doing before there is snow. I had the foresight to have soup ready for us when we came inside. With Gouda and apples and a bit of bread, we had a good enough meal before getting our weary bones into bed. 

Today I will take it easy with the exercise, just walk Neddy and sit and stitch a bit too. 

Oh here is the palette I am stitching with. I love how it is matching what is underfoot on my walks these days. 

Thank you for visiting Neddy and me here at the wooden house. 

Happy also to link with  Paying Ready Attention, It's a Small Town Life,  Our World Tuesday, Viewing Nature With Eileen, My Sunday Snapshot and Floral Passions. 

Halloween Memories, Healthy Cookies, Autumn Garden Visitors, Garden Chores

 The month of other air borne creatures is upon us...witches and goblins, LOL.  I know it's silly but even as an old woman now I still like Halloween. I have such wonderful memories of Halloweens as a girl, getting a mask, joining friends and tramping around the neighbourhoods to see how much loot we could gather.  I wasn't a big candy lover so getting a bag of chips was the real score for me.  

The masks we wore were fun ones, nothing too creepy. I remember a Raggedy Ann one and, of course, clowns. I do remember well how sweaty they made your face. Do you remember these?  Available at the Etsy shop Amandaclear Treasures

Meanwhile October has brought the juncos back to us.  I had several flocks here frantically feeding it seemed, darting about which made it more of a challenge for photos. Here is one of the few I managed. 

The hummingbirds are gone but I had a good summer with many visiting the feeder.  It took me quite a while to get a good photo of them away from the feeder.  The throat here looked interesting to me.

We had a groundhog here for a few weeks. He visited the little drainage ditch close to the house so I was able to get lots of photos of him from my window.  He was very quiet and never heeded the squirrels or birds bopping around him. Just seemed to mind his own business quietly moving slowly about, picking and chewing leaves. This unassuming calm manner of his grew on me and now that he is gone (where I wonder???), I miss him. 

Here is an early photo of him when he just showed up and he looked rather ragged.

Autumn chores

We are fortunate to live in a rural area in the country. We use a wood stove insert in the fire place to heat the main area during the winter. Our wood has been delivered and will have to be stacked on the front veranda and at the back door...two places that shelter it. 

I usually put evergreen branches over some of the flower beds. With all the snow and especially freezing rain we get, I do think this is a little added protection.

I have made a number of stick piles of fallen branches and limbs around the property.  I try to make them "blend in" with the surroundings.  I do enjoy the gathering part in the fresh air and I like the idea of providing a little more shelter for the smaller animals.  It's fun later in the winter to note the tracks around them and see they do get used. This is a good article and of course, I'm thinking of all kinds of critters using the shelters I'm making...How to Build a Nesting Area for Rabbits

This is one such hidey place I've fashioned and this summer I saw birds darting in and out of it as well.

I like to give the outside of the windows a good cleaning before the real cold sets in. I do a lot of viewing of the wild things through them and also take a lot of photos through them, so clean they must be.

I still have to move in the plants that spent the summer outside, the geraniums in particular.

I made a batch of "healthy" cookies recently.  Ones without flour and sugar so I had my doubts about how they would taste. I added craisins and sunflower seeds to my mixture and was pleasantly surprised with how good they tasted. Note: They have to be left on the pan to cool down before attempting to move them. I'm keeping mine in the fridge for a great mid afternoon snack. Here is the recipe from Running on Real Food Oh yes, I sprinkled coconut on them too.

Neddy and I are so happy you stopped by to visit us here at the wooden house. We hope you are able to get outside and breathe in fresh air where ever you are in this big wonderful world of ours. 

Linking this post with Paying Ready Attention, It's a Small Town Life, Viewing Nature With Eileen, Floral Passions,  and Our World Tuesday.

Rosy Leaf, Pretty Purple, Autumn Shopping, A Bird and Deer Capture

 Time is marching on whether we like it or not. I would love to have this jigsaw puzzle as we usually have a puzzle set up to work on in those odd moments; for me, while waiting for the potatoes to boil or some such. The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady- Autumn, 1000 piece. That link is where I found the best price.

 The property is taking on a look of early autumn. Walking Neddy early morning and it is cool enough to need a light jacket or warm sweater. He's impatient as I take the time to photograph the above leaf whose rosy colours attracted me. 

The nights have been cooling down but the days have been warm so many of the growing things are still thriving.

The lavender has had a beautiful purple regrowth. I have two patches and they smell so nice.

The chunky looking Sedum continues to brighten up flower beds.

The humidity of the summer encouraged fabulous Indian Pipe growth.

Both sides of the path in this part of the trail were lined- almost magical.

 Sighting these beautiful birds with their striking features is always a thrill.  Finally I managed a decent photograph one day down by the pond. Cedar Waxwings

Glancing out the kitchen window I caught sight of this young one. No doubt the rest of the family had already passed by. Much bigger than the last time I saw him. They are as watchful as they are beautiful. One of my blogging friends said you can distinguish each one by the pattern of the white dots on their hide.

Yes and now this season is upon us. Here in the northern hemisphere, a season of cooling down, winds, leaves changing colours, and lately, overhead, Canada Geese honking their way south. 

  I just love this time of year. Do you?

Happily sharing this post with Paying Ready Attention, Floral Friday Foto,, I'd Rather B Birdin', Viewing Nature With Eileen, Garden Affair, Our World Tuesday and Floral Passions.