Yellow Bellied Sapsucker

This is a male Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker.  He is so elusive that we are never able to get a good picture of him on the trunk of the Bradford Pair trees that he frequents.  But this morning he was very low on the bushes near the back deck and I was able to "sneak" up on him.

If you look carefully, you can see the line of holes he has put in the trunk.  And even with his bright red coloring on cap and bib, he blends in with his surroundings...

I love this picture and it was the one I used to identify him when looking in the field guide.  He is much different from the ladder back Woodpecker or Flickers.

See how he almost looks like part of the thick woody branches of this aged bush.

The master of hiding but I caught him this time-ha!

Sneaky little fella...
Hope you enjoyed seeing him and come back soon.  If you liked this post, Please visit our other blogs when you can.  Have a most wonderful Spring Day!

♥KERRIE♥
My heart to yours...

FLICKER AT THE FEEDER

Ahh, the Flicker!!

 This is a Common Flicker, yellow shafted race, Female.  She loves the suet that we have hanging on a shepherd's staff planter. Hubby took all of these pictures with his Nikon 15X optical zoom in our backyard.
  These Flickers are so vivid in color they appear to be brightly painted!

Common in open country near large trees, Flickers are jay-sized woodpeckers with brown back, no white on the wings, and a black breast crescent.  In flight you will see white rump, yellow or salmon under the wings and tail. 

Often you will see them on the ground eating ants and displaying like this picture below where she has found bugs in the remains of a tree trunk in our back yard.

The yellow shafted race are commonly seen from Florida to Alaska with feeding grounds mostly in the East and Mid West of the continual United States.

 Here in this photo, hubby has captured her beak full of suet and she is needing a napkin-ha!

These are wonderful birds to study and their sheer size and magnificent colors are so pleasing to the eye.  I hope you have been able to observe these wonderful creatures in life where you live.

Thank you for visiting as always and do visit our other blogs, links are in the sidebar.  For a spiritual message today, go to Kerrie's Home Journal.
Come again soon!!!


♥KERRIE♥
My heart to yours....

NOTHING BUT CRANES!

We are so blessed living where we can see so many tropical birds and creatures right in our own back yard.  We have seen everything from Great Blue Heron, Snowy Egret and Greater Egrets to Wood Storks.  We get all the more common visitors of birds, Beavers, Raccoons, and even Red Fox and Coyote's!  I took these pictures of the Great Blue Heron in the pine trees across the lake a couple of weeks ago.  I did run outside to take these but others were taken right from my den window.

And these great pictures were taken by Hubby last week when the Great Blue was visiting along the shore, sunning and preening. 

And can you tell that Hubby's camera is better than mine?? Ha!  I get so excited when I see his pictures!

This is my favorite of the Egret, you can even see the yellow of his eye!  I tell myself that I am going to use them for reference when I paint-ha!  But I never seem to make the time to paint any longer.  Someday....

Thank you for visiting as always and do visit my other blogs with the links in the sidebar.  you are always welcome and we love your comments!!

♥KERRIE♥

My heart to yours...

ALMOST SPRING!

A beautiful day here in SC today, 72 degrees, sunshine and a balmy breeze!  Can't get any better than that considering it is February and the rest of the country is still having snow, winds and freezing weather for the most part!  So let's take a little walk around the yard and bring some color into your winter life...

The beautiful Camellia Bush is in full bloom now.  It is a winter bloomer here in SC and with the freezing temperatures we had I was afraid the buds had gotten frost-bitten but happily, they just bloomed late!  There is so much detail in the blooms and the leaves are so vividly green in the otherwise brownness of winter.

The lake looking South is still beautiful any time of year with the contrasting brown grass banks and ever greens.

These are blossoms on the Juniper bush by the front step.  They are so delicate and spiderweb like.  After blooming, these will be berries.

This is Silver Moss growing here and there in the yard.  It makes a nice accent among the drabness. This moss grows pretty much everywhere in North America.  It is excellent for use in a terrarium.  

This is Livid Entoloma mushroom growing off of the dead wood of an old tree trunk root.  These are rather large, growing from 2.5 inches to 6" across the dome.

This one is dying and shriveled reminding me of an old straw hat-ha!  Never, ever eat wild mushrooms as you can never positively identify the similar looking poison from the edible ones.  You need an expert to do that.

The Bradford Pear tree is loaded with furry buds that will soon be clusters of snowy white blossoms!  These non-fruit bearing Pear Trees have blossoms before leaves.  These little branches are new and have sprouted since my hubby trimmed the trees last fall.

♫♫Sunshine, on my shoulder makes me happy♫♫  How true, how true!

These are the bright red buds on this Sweetgum tree are just looking as though they are ready to burst, too!  The clump of green is Mistletoe that uses the tree as a host.  Sweetgum trees sap was used in times past for chewing gum and a treatment for skin disorders and dysentery.  It's leaves are pleasantly fragrant when crushed and they are a blaze of red color in the fall.  They are mistaken for Maples until they bear the prickly ball fruit.  Many people use these to make wreaths and decorations.

Thank you so much for coming to visit this lovely, warm February day.  I hope your world was brightened by your visit and I hope you will leave a comment for me : )
Come again soon!

♥KERRIE♥
My heart to yours...

DOING THE CHORES...

Hmmm! Any day is laundry day at our house!!  For two old people we generate a LOT of laundry and a lot of garbage-ha!  Just when I think I am ahead of the game, there is another 2 or 3 loads of laundry to do!  Today it was the throw rugs, a load of whites and a load of darks.  I do so wish I had an umbrella clothes pole as it is 75 degrees and sunny here today--heaven!  I love hanging sheets and towels on the line and conditions are perfect right now before the pollen season!  There is nothing more wonderful than the smell of line dried clothes but for now my dryer must suffice-ha!

 I love this vintage advertisement for Laundry Starch from Buffalo, NY  The ladies in their little bustles are hilarious!

And I really don't mind ironing once I get started and always do an entire basketful at once.  Some don't iron any more but I cannot abide wearing cotton blouses or shirts that have not had a quick run over with an iron.  But at least we do not have to use the flat iron in the vintage picture, bless this lady's heart! I have a vintage flat iron that I painted on and it sets on the floor for a door stop-ha!
   I had seen some painted in a magazine several years ago when I painted mine with a farm scene from my imagination.  I love it.

I also have some kitchen items, a vintage can opener with a wooden handle and a spatula that my Mom gave to me many many years ago.  She was always sharing anything I needed and always said, "keep it".  Mom's are like that, aren't they?  I miss her so much...

I have turned the photo sideways for viewing but these are hanging in my kitchen the long way.

Do you have any old utensils or laundry memorabelia to share?  I would love to see!!

So I am on my Third load of laundry, the rugs are done and back on the floors, the light clothes in the dryer and the dark load just finished in the washer!  Yay!, now I can spend some time out of doors taking pictures like this one of the young female Bluebird that visited us this morning.

 She is under the plant crook eating what has fallen from the Suet hanging there.

She is right on the curve of the upper crook hanger blending in with the background so that I can barely see her.  Now that I am looking at these pictures after posting, I think this may be a young Male who does not have all of his vivid colors yet.
   I have the windows open in the house and I love the sound of my windchimes that sound like a harp.  Happy day to you all and come back soon!
♥KERRIE♥
My heart to yours...

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

ALL AROUND THE HOUSE VALENTINE'S DAY!!

Nothing cheers up a house as much as fresh flowers!  The bouquet of miniature tulips was a gift and looked so lovely on the table!

 

The colors of the leaves and blossom are so vivid.



These are my kissing Angels given to me back in 1996 by a very dear friend who has passed on just this last year. I love them very much....

These
are the paper Valentines on green ribbon banner  that I made from graphics from the Graphic's Fairy.

Lollipops in my flower frog, candle bear and Red Bow on Bunny



This is a Valentine banner of little quilt squares surrounded by eyelet material and folded over and stitched to hang on the dowel.  I made this a few years ago and put it out every year now.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!  I hope you all have a day filled with love and happiness!


Thanks for stopping by and do come again soon!

♥KERRIE♥
My Valentine heart to yours...

Blue Skies, Shining on me...

♫♫☺Bue Skies, shining on me, nothing but blue skies, do I see. ♫♫ Remember the lyrics to the song?  I love it!  My older sis and I always sing it with 2-part harmony and have since we were children!  During this last week we had much rain but there was one evening before dark when the sky was as blue as a robins egg and these fantastic puffy little clouds were floating along.  My camera was just snapping away and I did not know what direction to choose next!  The rendition of Blue Skies by Willie Nelson is not traditional but still uplifting...

I cannot help but smile just to look at these pictures!  If I had a bigger living room, I would frame a set of sky pictures and put them over the sofa, so that I would always see blue skies....
 
Blue Skies was written by Irving Berlin in December 1926.  The singer Belle Baker, introduced it on December 28th (My Mom's birthday and my grandson's) in 1926.

♫♫Bluebirds singing a song, nothin' but Blue skies all day long!♫♫
  We love the bluebirds, too!  This is a picture of a Blue Bird in our back yard last Spring when we had snow in early February here in South Carolina!  Hubby was able to snap this beautiful little fellow who was hanging to eat on the suet blog cage.

I hope you enjoyed today's post and you might like to visit my Christian blog this morning at http://kerrieshomejournal.blogspot.com/.  We also have a craft blog at http://kerrieskrafts3.blogspot.com/ and our original Two Happy blog at http://beaver-kerrie.blogspot.com/
          Thank you as always for visiting today and I hope you will come again soon! Hugs and blessings are wished for you on this beautiful sunny Sunday!

♥KERRIE♥
My heart to yours...