Visual Escapes and Daily Inspirations: Share Yours

As I was sitting at the computer looking out the window this morning I noticed the bird feeder was looking kind of sparse. The sun was shining and it looks like a beautiful day in the neighborhood...except that it was 14 degrees outside. I dug out the warm parka, gloves and boots and gathered the bird food and carefully walked to the feeder using my best old guy balance moves (putting on a show for the wife who was watching from the window 🙂). Now that I'm back inside a warm house, I see a few creatures catching a quick breakfast and giving me a photo op.

P.S. - Always leave some extra near the ground for the squirrels.

@johnbishop, That looks like one very happy little squirrel feasting away! Hope your wife gave you much deserved applause for navigating to and from the feeders successfully! Smiles

@mayofob2020, I am so sorry you are still dealing with the fires. And now the Santa Ana winds are picking up. If this is your first time with the fires......then extra hugs coming your way. I have lived in CA off an on all my life. The last time was 20 years during which I was evacuated 3 times.

I so agree with the message......."if the fireman says go.......please go." And on your way out....grab your mask.

My best....don't forget to avoid the smoke and particulates.

May you be safe and protected from inner and outer harm.
Chris

@artscaping. Thank you. My son and I went to my daughter's Monday afternoon. The air was so thick with smoke we cannot see the sky. Win was blowing at 60 miles. We were next in line to evacuate. I was planning on staying through to the weekend, but I felt so discombobulated. My daughter and son in law were working at home. They were so busy they had to eat their meals at the desks. Board meetings, what not. I don't want them to worry about me too. My son was working there as well. On Tuesday, the wind died down a little and the fire department was able to use helicopter and planes to get water to douse the fire. The wind changed a little bit and we were no longer in the path. So we decided to come home. Oh, my son has a dog too, so we couldn't just go to a hotel. My daughter was sad I had to leave but I'll visit again under better circumstances. There's still smoke in the air though not as thick. My patio us covered with pine needles. Almost all the leaves on my money tree were blown off. There is another fire in another county. Please pray for the two firefighters who were critically injured. Burnt over 60 percent of their bodies. The fire department did a wonderful job, as usual. Can't thank them enough.

@mayofeb2020, Sounds like you have covered all the bases. I understand about discombobulated. My granddaughter had to help me the last time. I get panicky. I have a friend who is a retired fireman. And five of our young firemen on the mountain died at a fire that was set by an arsonist. Please be safe.....and protected. Give the puppy dog some loving. They know when danger is near.

Chris

Soaking up the rays on the retaining wall just waiting for someone to let her in through the window 😉

You can tell Thanksgiving is over 😂 We were on our way into the city to get some groceries yesterday and a few hundred feet in front of us there were 25+ wild turkeys that were a sight to see. The closer we got, the more they took to flight to get over the fence away from the road and into the field. Sorry the photos are not that great. I cropped them from a video clip. It really was quite a sight to see. Normally we don't see more than 4 to 6 of them together.

@johnbishop The other day driving north to my appointments, I saw several flocks of wild turkeys. This morning we had several hawks in the valley, singing in the change of seasons. Today's high is 39. Even our local herd of deer are sticking together in greater numbers.
Ginger

Great shot!

I am happy you have them, and not me! Our local law enforcement had to shoot one a few years ago that got so aggressive he wouldn't let the kids off the school bus or the letter carrier out of her truck.

When we were out looking at tracks in the local park with the kids, we saw turkey tracks along with all the deer, raccoons, etc. We also have a heard of deer that are fenced into a local "superfund" cleanup site - they escaped the herd thinning that was done by bow-hunting sharpshooters last winter I guess. On my walk I could see that someone has been dumping feed corn over the fence for them. Our local wildlife corridor is rated to support about 100 deer - after thinning by 115 last winter, the estimate is that we still have over 200. I guess the veterans' residence will get more venison this winter again.
Who would have thought we'd see all this wildlife so close to the city? Of course, we have no wolves (yet) so their main predator is vehicles.

My birds are all in hiding because we have 2 eagles and an owl "patrolling" the neighborhood every day and night. The jump on the feeders for a quick snack and fly right back into the nearby spruce trees.
Sue