More from the window

Yesterday while sitting in the living room I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Looked and saw it was a hawk flying just about level with the deck railing and quite close. My first thought was he/she was after the small birds at the feeder. I’ll tell you, those birds scattered fast. The hawk flew into a tree at the end of our garden. Here’s a picture taken through the window.

Not super clear, but easy to see what it is. I really enjoyed being able to see him/her.

A little later Garry came into the living room, looked out the window and wondered where all the feathers came from that were on the fence.

Those light colored things are feathers. That’s a tree on the left and the open barn door on the right. It was then I realized the hawk must have been stalking our chickens, not the small birds on the feeders. Garry quickly put his boots on to go check on the chickens. He counted heads and said they were all there. He thought one of the lighter colored ones looked a bit ‘roughed up’ down by her tail. Basically some feathers missing. That is the first time we’ve had a hawk go after our chickens. Danny has them go after his quite often. The only difference is our lot has a bit more tree cover. So that was our excitement for the day.

The grandkids and their parents came down for a little while in the afternoon. We shared the Overnight Coffeecake with them. There is no way Garry and I needed to eat an entire 9x13 pan of it. There was enough left that we had some with our coffee this morning.

I didn’t mention that the link to the coffeecake is my daughter’s recipe site. She loves to cook…considers it her hobby.

We have lots of birds already. At the rate they’re going I’ll be put ‘into the poor house’ trying to feed them. We have the usual…tufted titmice, chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, red-breasted woodpeckers, gold finches, purple finches, and cardinals. There are so many of them that they soon empty a feeder. It seems when it’s colder, they definitely eat more.

Anne and I are going treasure hunting on Thursday of this week. It gives us a chance to get off the farm, plus it’s something we both enjoy. She finds a lot of the children’s clothes that way. Rarely does she need to buy something new for any of them. I would sure like to find some clothes for me. Seems I usually find things for Garry, but rarely for myself. Perhaps this week will be different. Or, just maybe, I need to be thankful and satisfied with the clothes I have.

Bye for now.

It’s been chilly here.

We’ve had a couple night in the low 20’s, so now all my flowers that were still growing have been frozen. I was really enjoying having some plants that were still green and even a few blooms. BUT I’m not complaining as it is the first part of December. I’m just thankful they lasted as long as they did.
Wednesday, I did accomplish several things. One thing I noticed (not for the first time) was it takes me longer to do things than it used to. One of the perks of being older, I suppose. I made a vegetable soup using some of my home canned beef stock…made a large one to have enough for Darryl and his family when they came home. Plus some for us. It simmered most of the day on the wood stove…made the house smell good.  Then since I had so much buttermilk, decided to make Buttermilk biscuits to go with it. Garry and I hadn’t much more than carried the soup and biscuits to Darryl & Anne’s house than they came home…maybe 20 minutes. Garry had kept a fire going in their stove all Wednesday, so the house would be warm. So we put the soup on the stove and biscuits on the warming shelf. They said it smelled and felt so good when they walked into their house. I know what it’s like to come home to a cold house and wonder what you’re going to feed your family. Been there done that.
Three of the children came running down here before even going into their house. It was so good to see them!! Their big sister had been car sick on the way home, so didn’t feel like coming. That’s okay, she stopped by the next morning. It is such a blessing to have them so close. They were only gone a week, but it seemed longer.
Also, on Wednesday, I made the chocolate pudding I’d mentioned, so we’ve been enjoying it. Had to do something to use up some of the extra milk in my fridge. Even did some cleaning…our bedroom and the bathrooms. I had hoped to do a lot more than I did. It was just one of those days where ‘the hurrieder I went the behinder I got’. And dishes, seemed like I was washing them every little bit. Hard to believe two people can use so many.
Yesterday I baked 3 loaves of whole wheat bread. Took one loaf’s worth (doubled recipe makes 4), wrapped in plastic wrap and put into the refrigerator planning to use it for pizza. I wasn’t sure how that would work, but it was great. I took it out about noon today, then made pizza for  tonight. So I’ll be doing that again. Probably will alternate between making hamburger buns and pizza with the dough for the 4th loaf.
I made more butter…another pound. It will help so much to have butter ahead. Now if I can just figure out what to do with all of the buttermilk. I have nearly 3 quarts. Last evening I mixed up an Overnight Coffeecake, then Garry put it into the oven when he got up this morning. So we had fresh coffee cake with our coffee. It was quite good. Oh, I forgot to mention, the coffee cake uses buttermilk. Have to do something with it…just doesn’t appeal to me to drink it.
Then yesterday afternoon I had grandchildren visiting. I was starting to clean the living room when they came. Decided it could wait. And it did until today. I did a good bit of cleaning today, so the house looks nice. Also cooked chicken and rice for tomorrow.
Snickers has pretty much let me sleep the last couple nights. Or I’ve been so tired that I’ve slept through whatever she’s done. We call her our old lady cat. She’s nearly 11. We used to call her grouchy old lady cat, as she was quick to growl or hiss, especially at Precious…the young lady cat who is 6. Snickers has mellowed a good bit, so now she’s just the old lady cat. She still doesn’t appreciate that we brought Precious into our household, as Snickers was quite happy being an only cat.
Speaking of old lady. I believe it’s time for this one to head toward bed.
Take care!