A Bird Tree For Winter

Hello everyone and Happy February!  I just read that our little buddy Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today, so six more weeks of winter.  People have mixed feelings about Phil (depending on what his verdict is in February), but I think he's mighty cute. 😊 However, I think he and his kin are much cuter when they're not in our yard.  They can sure make a mess with all their holes everywhere.     I wanted to share our small bird tree in the den, which I put together after taking down the Christmas decorations. This tree is in our den where we can enjoy it in the evening.  It's decorated with ornaments that I've collected over the years and previously hung on our big Christmas tree.  My mom has a winter cardinal tree that sits on the floor at her house from winter until spring, so that gave me the idea to do a bird tree of our own.     

Hello August!

Hello Dear Friends and Happy August!  Perhaps in colder climates, by the first of August, summer is starting to wane?  Here in North Carolina, it is still quite hot.  My mom's air conditioner has been out for over two weeks, but thankfully, she has a separate air-conditioned room where she can sit during the day and a place to sleep at night.  I've heard about other folks who are not so lucky.  I hope you are comfortable wherever you are during this current heat wave. 

   
  

The Joys of Bird Watching

Hello all!  Are you having a good week?  We're staying pretty busy, but we're ready for some cooler weather.  In spite of the heat, we've gotten good rain this summer, for which we're extremely grateful, as we have all those baby trees that really need water.      One thing that we've done every day this summer, I believe, is watched the birds in our backyard.  I can't tell you how much we've enjoyed that, as it has been way too hot to spend any time outdoors since early June.  We probably spend too much money on bird seed, but we sure get a lot of pleasure out of our birdwatching.      

   

   

Some Recommendations For You

Hi all -- are you glad to welcome the merry month of May?  This is always a busy month for us what with planting spring flowers, strawberry season, celebrating Mother's Day and our wedding anniversary, and last but not least, Memorial Day.  Whew -- I feel like I'm behind already.  😜  Today, I want to share a few things that I've discovered in hopes that you might find them interesting, too.       

      

Snowflakes That Stay on My Nose and Eyelashes...

"Silver white winters that melt into spring, these are a few of my favorite things."  We're in a winter wonderland here at Forest Manor.  I know people up north get sick of this white stuff, and believe me, I would too if we had it all the time.  But some winters, we don't get a single flake, so when we do, I can't help but appreciate the beauty of it all.   

Pigs With Wings

Those of you who visit here regularly know how we love to feed the birds.  We currently have six feeders out back (including a suet feeder) and a suet feeder in the front yard.  We've been lucky to get a good variety of songbirds, woodpeckers, and ground feeders, even the occasional squirrel.  Unfortunately, our feeders have attracted a less welcome variety of birds, whom I have dubbed "pigs with wings."  Actually, this is an insult to pigs everywhere because pigs can be really cute.

Mother Nature Calling

Hello and how was your weekend?  Ours was really nice; we had beautiful spring weather.  I felt a little like we were in our own episode of "Wild Kingdom" though.  Do you think these little guys are cute?

A Hummingbird's Nest?

Hi everyone!  How's your week going?  Mine has been okay.  I hope not too many of you are snowed in and without electricity.  It's been cold here, but no snow in our little town so far.

Late yesterday afternoon I took Duncan out to take care of business, and I happened to spot this on the ground in our front yard --

Some Observations On a Snowy Day

It looks like an amazing winter wonderland here in our corner of the world.  Right now we have about six inches of snow in our little town outside of Winston-Salem, N.C.

A Quick Look At Our Christmas Mantel

I just finished tweaking our Christmas Mantel for this year and thought I'd show you what it looks like.  I'm really happy with the way it turned out!  This is the first time I've done a totally different mantel in more than ten years.  I love tradition, especially at Christmas, so I have a hard time changing too many things in my decorating.  However, I felt that it was time for something different where the mantel is concerned.

A Thief In The Night

Hi friends!  I hope you've all had a decent Monday -- such cold and dreary weather we're having.  Brrrr!

Those of you who regularly read my blog know that we love to feed and watch the birds at our house.  Well...this morning I opened the blind at our kitchen window where all the feeders are visible, and there was an empty chain hanging where our cute, new bark butter feeder used to be.

Backyard Birds

About a year ago, I wrote about two new bird feeders that we hung at the back of our house.  One was a double-decker seed feeder, and the other was called a bark butter feeder.  You can read about those in For The Birds.

Just a few weeks ago, we added two more feeders to this location -- a suet feeder and another type of feeder for bark butter.  Our kitchen window looks out onto this porch, and we get a really good view of all the birds coming back and forth to the feeder throughout the day.

Last Friday, we had a little bit of snow and a lot of sleet and rain, so my husband chose to work from home.  It was a good decision because his company ended up sending everyone home around lunchtime, which is a very unusual occurrence.

Since it was so cold and nasty, we had lots of traffic at the bird feeders.  I decided to see if I could capture some decent pictures with the point and shoot camera, and I did manage to get a few.  This is the male Downy Woodpecker (sorry about the fuzzy image).

English Robin in the Snow

I just couldn't resist posting this charming image while we're still enjoying the Christmas holidays.  I have always thought these English Robins are the most darling little birds; I hate to say it, but much cuter to my way of thinking than their larger cousin, the American Robin.

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