What's outside of your picture window today?

Posted by John, Volunteer Mentor @johnbishop, Nov 25, 2020

As we get ready for the real winter to show up and COVID-19 still playing a major part in our lives I like to spend moments of my day de-stressing about what's going on in the world today. All I have to do is look out the window and observe some of natures beautiful creatures, how they interact and ponder how small it makes my troubles seem. Sometimes I may even get the opportunity to take a photo or two. How about you? Anything going on outside of your window(s) that you want to share?

For those members that have the ability to size your photos before you upload them to the discussion, may I suggest using the following sizes:
– 500 x 335 pixels (landscape)
– 210 x 210 pixels (square)

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@gingerw

Seemingly overnight, white bearded irises have bloomed outside my front door. they are huge! That makes irises, hyacinth, and assorted other bulbs this year. Oh, and my lavender is starting to bloom now. The cherry trees have leafed out, as has the birch tree. The roses are starting to take off now. And, of course, there are weeds galore. I am doing "bucket a day or an hour" in yard work. Why don't the deer eat weeds like they do my roses?
Ginger

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Why don't they eat weeds or ferns instead of my hosta, phlox, Queen of the Prairie, rattlesnake plant, columbine, tulips, even rhubarb!
And now, we uncovered the pond so there are hoofprints up to the edge of it where they are apparently sipping...got to get the fountain in and splashing to keep them away.
This morning my "weeding" hour was spent putting hot pepper/egg spray on all of the favorites.
Apparently all the sticks I left poking up last fall weren't quite enough.
Oh, and I finally got my neighbor to put her corn feeders away - she's drawing herds of deer (11 in our little yard one night this month - we used to see two or maybe three) and flocks of turkey and geese - way more than we have ever seen before. Had to remind her it is unkind to draw wildlife out of their habitat and into suburban traffic when there is now food in the woods for them to forage. (Also happens to be illegal in our little town unless you are on a wetland or wildlife habitat and get a permit.)
I'm happy to feed the songbirds (and let them share a little with our local chippies.)
Sue

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@sueinmn

Why don't they eat weeds or ferns instead of my hosta, phlox, Queen of the Prairie, rattlesnake plant, columbine, tulips, even rhubarb!
And now, we uncovered the pond so there are hoofprints up to the edge of it where they are apparently sipping...got to get the fountain in and splashing to keep them away.
This morning my "weeding" hour was spent putting hot pepper/egg spray on all of the favorites.
Apparently all the sticks I left poking up last fall weren't quite enough.
Oh, and I finally got my neighbor to put her corn feeders away - she's drawing herds of deer (11 in our little yard one night this month - we used to see two or maybe three) and flocks of turkey and geese - way more than we have ever seen before. Had to remind her it is unkind to draw wildlife out of their habitat and into suburban traffic when there is now food in the woods for them to forage. (Also happens to be illegal in our little town unless you are on a wetland or wildlife habitat and get a permit.)
I'm happy to feed the songbirds (and let them share a little with our local chippies.)
Sue

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A friend of mine set up a deer alert sprinkler and said it does keep the deer away from his garden - https://youtu.be/nB3cJ4Tdvn0

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We not only live on forested acreage but have hundreds of acres of forest immediately east of us. Deer herds live on and near our place. There's almost always at least a couple of deer visible from at least one of our windows. I enjoy seeing not only the deer but their much larger cousins, the elk herd, which moves downhill into the big marsh (that used to be a pretty little creek before developers moved in) whenever the groundskeepers at the golf course near us chase the elk away.
I've learned to plant things that deer either don't like or that are bad for them. For instance, daffodils poison deer so bloom all along our long driveway every spring. Most of our place has so many trees that I can't have flowering plants there, but I created a big flower bed out beside the road and filled it with plants that deer don't like: mainly dahlias, pinks, butterfly bushes. Each year, I try a couple of new plants to see if they're deer resistant...if not, they don't get planted in future years. Because deer roam freely all about our general area, everyone is amazed by my big bed of blooming flowers. Right now, almost every day someone walking by stops to remark that they can't wait until all the flowers are blooming! The nice thing is that dahlias and pinks also don't attract the real villians here on the Oregon coast: banana slugs! I've given up having pansies due to those ugly critters: they can mow down an entire large pansy seemingly in just minutes. While I regret not being able to grow carnations (which I love), I'm happy with my huge bed of dahlias and pinks that everyone admires. The deer actually avoid that flower bed, preferring to graze on long grass: there's always some, as I mow an acre and do it in sections, so there are always some places where the grass is taller. Right now, the does are showing their pregnancies, and I can hardly wait to see the new fawns in a few weeks!

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@joyces

We not only live on forested acreage but have hundreds of acres of forest immediately east of us. Deer herds live on and near our place. There's almost always at least a couple of deer visible from at least one of our windows. I enjoy seeing not only the deer but their much larger cousins, the elk herd, which moves downhill into the big marsh (that used to be a pretty little creek before developers moved in) whenever the groundskeepers at the golf course near us chase the elk away.
I've learned to plant things that deer either don't like or that are bad for them. For instance, daffodils poison deer so bloom all along our long driveway every spring. Most of our place has so many trees that I can't have flowering plants there, but I created a big flower bed out beside the road and filled it with plants that deer don't like: mainly dahlias, pinks, butterfly bushes. Each year, I try a couple of new plants to see if they're deer resistant...if not, they don't get planted in future years. Because deer roam freely all about our general area, everyone is amazed by my big bed of blooming flowers. Right now, almost every day someone walking by stops to remark that they can't wait until all the flowers are blooming! The nice thing is that dahlias and pinks also don't attract the real villians here on the Oregon coast: banana slugs! I've given up having pansies due to those ugly critters: they can mow down an entire large pansy seemingly in just minutes. While I regret not being able to grow carnations (which I love), I'm happy with my huge bed of dahlias and pinks that everyone admires. The deer actually avoid that flower bed, preferring to graze on long grass: there's always some, as I mow an acre and do it in sections, so there are always some places where the grass is taller. Right now, the does are showing their pregnancies, and I can hardly wait to see the new fawns in a few weeks!

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Thanks for sharing such a great photo!

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Outside my picture window it is ever changing. I am saddled with an incurable chronic disease that has me on opioids so I had to give up my CDL 10 years ago. My wife now does all of the driving. I ride along and help in every way that I can. Blessed to have her for 47 years now. She just got an award from our company for having well over a million miles of safe driving. 2-3000 miles every week.

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@jemock

Outside my picture window it is ever changing. I am saddled with an incurable chronic disease that has me on opioids so I had to give up my CDL 10 years ago. My wife now does all of the driving. I ride along and help in every way that I can. Blessed to have her for 47 years now. She just got an award from our company for having well over a million miles of safe driving. 2-3000 miles every week.

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@jemock, What a great story to share! In my younger days I had the opportunity to make quite a few cross-country trips in the days of CB radios. It always made my day on some of the long open country routes to chat with truckers and others enjoying the beautiful scenery. Having your better half with you is always a blessing.

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We have a robin’s nest tucked up under the eaves of our back patio roof. This is the third year a Mama robin has come, improved the nest, laid and protected her eggs and later the hatchlings. I use only the front door during protection time- she flies to the top of one of the patio chairs and scolds very loudly if the back door is used, but now and then I did and looked up to see 4-5 little beaks peeking over the edge of the nest.
Today, no more Mama squawking, the nest is empty. I don’t mind cleaning up the bird doo down below, I like feeling part of this particular “cycle of life”. I have three bird baths (one on a pedestal and two ground level). A neighbor has bird feeders out and we have water, so there are lots of happy customers. One robin likes to take a bath, then just sit in the water. We laugh that the robin is enjoying “spa time”.

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@johnbishop

@jemock, What a great story to share! In my younger days I had the opportunity to make quite a few cross-country trips in the days of CB radios. It always made my day on some of the long open country routes to chat with truckers and others enjoying the beautiful scenery. Having your better half with you is always a blessing.

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Not very many on the CB nowadays. They’re all on their phones or listening to a podcast or something. It used to be a very helpful thing in a lot of ways but it’s really not used much anymore. We’ve been at it since ‘76. A lot has changed. In another year it’ll be someone else’s job, and we’ll go relax. 😊

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It’s a beautiful day. The sun is streaming through the tall pines and palms next to my condo. It is a measly 98 degrees outside, but a month from now it will be about 12 degrees higher.
I wish I had deer even though they eat your treasures. They are so sweet looking.
Instead I have coyotes, bobcats and javelins. The coyotes are especially bold. I have had one on my patio drinking out of my birdbath. Needless to say, I had to put the birdbath away.
Many of my neighbors have gone back to their summer homes so the neighborhood is much quieter. That’s fine because summer is hibernation time for us desert dwellers.
Greetings from beautiful Phoenix

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Surprised on the way to fill my bird feeders and saw this large Bumble Bee fueling up on my patch of pretty wild violets (I think).

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