Spring flowers

 "See! The winter is past;

        the rains are over and gone.

Flowers appear on the earth;

     the season of singing has come,

            the cooing of doves

                is heard in the land.

The fig tree forms its early fruit;

        the blossoming vines spread their fragrance."

                             Song of Solomon 2:11-13a

Spring means flowers in Kansas!  I had these geraniums in my planter on the front porch over-wintered in the window well in the basement.  I have a plastic lid over the window well so it becomes a "greenhouse".   (When the temperatures got into single digits, I brought them in and put them in the shower.)  

My daylillies have not begun to flower yet.

I enjoy putting flowers on my back deck.  We had hail this past week and I had to put them under the eaves to protect them.

These will hopefully fill out more as they grow.

In my backyard, I planted some dahlias - they were my mother's favorite flower!  She loved this colour! 

There were lots of weeds in my flower beds.  I was waiting for the baby robins to grow and fly so I wouldn't disturb them in their nest while weeding.  See my last post  to see what happened.

The very last snowball.  This bush was FULL!

Why didn't I get a photo?

The Awana director at church gave us some posies as a thanks for serving this year!  How sweet!

I found a place for those too.

I'll have to pray for the little Cubbies as I water these!

One of my neighbors had poppies!   I would love to plant those!

My daughter-in-law, Staci (far right in the picture below) has a dear friend, Carrie, who recently painted this floral painting that she named "A Hopeful Waiting".  Sort of looks like some are poppies. It was a year ago now that Staci had serious health complications that put her in the hospital.  She had to learn how to re-walk and still has many struggles that neurologists have no idea how to help.  They don't really know what is going on. She is now in a clinic that works with brain inflammation and she is recovering slowly.  A huge answer to prayer, yet Spero Clinic is outside insurance so is very costly.  

Carrie has made prints, cards and posters of this print to support Staci's medical costs!  All proceeds for "A Hopeful Waiting" go directly to her medical fund.  Thank you so much Carrie!  If you would like to help, you can contact Carrie with Sparrow Lettering at sparrowlettering@gmail.com.

"The road is too rough," I said;
    "It is uphill all the way;
No flowers, but thorns instead;
    And the skies overhead are gray."
But One took my hand at the entrance dim,
    And sweet is the road that I walk with Him.

Spring birds

In the Spring, many birds return to our area that have been wintering in the southern United States, Mexico or even across the Gulf from South America.  

Red-winged blackbirds - female above, who needs a "nose" job, and a male below.

The barn swallows returned from South America.

Al put up a netting so they can't nest in the basement pit.  They like to make their nest right above the door.  

We often have overnight guests stay here who enter through that door, and all that bird dropping on the welcome mat would not be too welcoming! 

There are other places they can nest.  This nest is by my kitchen window so I can watch their antics!

Red-bellied woodpeckers are not typically migratory.

Neither are the Downy woodpeckers.

Cardinals are seen here year round also.

Doves from Canada winter in Mexico.  But those who live further south in the States are present year-round.  I think ours go to Texas?  We have Mourning Doves and Eurasian collared doves.

Our purple martins arrived (from Brazil they say) and found their new home!  We had replaced our old house as it was beginning to fall apart.

There were openings on the sides for "apartments" too, but no way to clean those out so we taped them shut.

The orioles have arrived!  

They go to Florida, the Caribbean or Central America in the winter.  I wonder where ours have been? Wouldn't it be fun if they would show off their pictures like we do when we travel?

"Look where we were!"

Three orioles this morning!

With good seed supply, goldfinches often don't migrate or are short range migratory birds.  In the winter, their gold colouring fades but is vibrant in the summer.

The house finch also enjoys the food I put out for the orioles.  Especially the grape jelly that gets eaten right up!

Even the hummingbird, that has migrated from Mexico or Central America, enjoys drinking from the oriole feeder, although they have their own feeder.  

I've seen orioles come to my hummingbird feeder too but don't have a picture.  

I make my own juice.  It used to be different ratios of water to sugar, but recently I've seen on-line that they recommend the same ratio for both orioles and hummingbirds:  

     4 parts water to 1 part sugar.  

     I boil the water, mix in the sugar until it dissolves.  Cool.  

They do recommend that you do NOT add red food coloring for hummingbirds.  The red dye is not good for them.

Harris' sparrow usually summer in northern Canada, but they are still here.

He would send us a postcard of Banff this summer if he could.

A Carolina wren was looking for some nesting material in my hanging planter. 

and bugs too.  

Carolina wrens do not attempt to migrate, but house wrens will go to southern US states or into Mexico in the winter.  House wrens are smaller, darker and shorter tailed than Carolina wrens and they lack the white chest and eyebrow stripe that Carolina wrens have.  The Carolina has such a loud song and sings year round.

Our local bird guide told us that robins from Canada come here, while our winter robins go further south.  The Canada robins are larger.

A robin lay some eggs in my lantern style bird feeder.

Babies!

My heart was just sick when one morning I looked out and the nest was empty!

They were too young to fly yet so it must have been a snake or the hawk I recently saw in the trees that got them.  I am sooo sad.  I was looking forward to watching the babies grow and learn to fly!

I hate nature in that sence.  I can't even watch nature shows - or I cover my eyes for the bad parts.  This was not part of God's original design and one day He will make all things new.  In the new heaven, there will be no death.  No evil snakes or hawks.  

The neighbor cat was hunkering down under this daylily plant and would pounce on unsuspecting birds, so I put rocks here so it couldn't hide.

It is an analogy.  The enemy is always lurking, waiting to attack our children and grand-children.  We must persevere in prayer.  Protect our families as much as we can and seek the Lord's help.

I don't know if it is the same mommy bird, but ever since that attack, this robin has been at our study window, pecking and fluttering against our window pane.

I put up some flickering metalic leaves to distract it from doing so, but it continues on and on and on.  All day long.  Poor thing.  There are some other things I will try.

Someone told us that when a bird pecks at your window, it means that someone close to you will die.  Oh my.  Well, I don't believe that.  I've read that they see their reflection and are trying to attack the bird in the window.  Or maybe this is the female who is out of her mind with grief.

Don't let the song go out of your life

     Although it sometimes will flow

In a minor strain; it will blend again

    With the major tone you know.

Don't let the song go out of your life;

    Though the voice may have lost its trill,

Though the quivering note may die in your throat,

    Let it sing in your spirit still.

- Streams in the Desert