CBS: Carlos Broadcasting System

Doggy TV:CBS
The Carlos Broadcasting System


One of Carlos's favorite spots to hang out during the day is at the end of my bed, staring out the window.

(This is breaking one of my cardinal rules that I have always had about no dogs on the furniture. 
But rules are made to be broken and as my neighbor says "They aren't really rules, just suggestions." I'm trying to take that to heart more.)

Just waiting for some entertainment.

Occasionally a squirrel will dash past and he will leap at the window and bark.

Even more exciting are the deer. Then he will leap at the window, make a mess of it, bark AND whine to go out.   Although one time he chased the deer and instead of running, they turned on him and chased back.  I almost had one dog hightailing it into the front door with three bucks hot on his tail. Fortunately those bucks saw me and turned off at the last minute.

Anyway, it dawned on me that watching the window just waiting for something to happen might be pretty boring for Mr. Carlos. I have had such success with the bird feeder in the front yard that there are birds everywhere.  Maybe put some bird feed on the back deck? A spot where the birds would be up close and personal?

Good idea, mom.

Well, that idea was very well received by all concerned.

 Birds everywhere. 

I love the one on the right that is coming in for a landing.

I'm pretty sure both of these guys (gals?)are finches.

 There's a lot of singing going on outside the back door...

Occasionally they are joined by these plump little juncos.

 Yum.

 Love his little crest...

 LOVE that you can see the sunflower seed in his mouth.

 The little yellow one has a crest, also.

 These Steller's Jays are soooo flighty. 

 Most of my pics of the jays turned out like this...

One happy dog. 

So much more to look at.

If you'd like to see the winged visitors we had last spring, click here. 

Spring has a lot of birds flying through that we don't see the rest of the summer. 

I'm hoping all of these little visitors are harbingers of spring. It sure has seemed like it recently.

Cross your fingers. 

Perseverance

Perseverance: I Think I Can, I Think I Can

Back in October I wrote about "doing it like I mean it" and looking for a job.

I kept looking for jobs, had a couple of interviews and basically accomplished nothing.

Then about five weeks ago a little coffee/decor shop opened up about 5 miles down the road from the cabin. I had watched this building being renovated and set my sights on working there.

The very first week they opened, I went in, ordered a mocha espresso and told the owner that I wanted to work there.   She looked at me like I had two heads.

This machine makes a lot of noise.

It's scary.

But I persevered.

The next week I went in and the owner's son was there. I repeated my request. I want to work here.
He looked slightly more interested, but no jobs available, they were just getting started.  He told me to maybe call his mom.

The following week, another employee was there and I told her I wanted to work there because  "don't you want to take some days off?".  I left my name and number, again.

Again the next week. Declaring my intentions, leaving my name and number.

I pretty much had given up.

BUT.... Hope springs eternal.

I went in last week and the owner's son said "O! I was going to call you today. Can you come in on Wednesday?"

Hallelujah!!!

I've worked one day. I made espressos and chai teas and sold some coffee mugs. Business is slow to start- this is a seasonal area. But the ski area opens Thanksgiving weekend so possibly things will pick up.

The grinder for these guys is also scary.

But I still have my fingers!

I go back on this Wednesday.

It was fun, I learned something new, I persevered.

Hey! Isn't that the entire premise behind Project Sixty by Sixty?
Yep.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane...

It's a Bird, It's a Plane....Nope.  It's a Bird.

Birds! We have them all of the sudden.

This is our fifth Spring to own this house and the very first time we have had any birds besides the hummers.

Pretty much around here if you fill a hummingbird feeder, they will come.
But other birds?
Nope.

We have even commented on how it would seem this would be a lovely spot for birds- but there have NEVER been any besides a random crow or two.

One year I filled the bird feeder in June and in August ALL of the food was still there.

The next year I filled the bird feeder and ....

These aren't birds.

But they still ate all the birdseed. 

This year I decided to try again.  You know... Hope Springs Eternal and all.

And Voilá!  Birds.

First it was just the Robins and the Steller Jays with a Chickadee or two.

 Mr. Robin

 Mr. Chickadee

and a Steller Jay

But on Sunday I glanced outside and wow!  I thought somebody's parakeet had escaped. 

The brightest yellow bird was out there. And then it was joined by a black and red bird. 

And more yellow birds. And then a yellow bird with a red head. 

What was going on??

I'm not sure but we have Birds with a capital B.

 An Evening Grosbeak.

This is the guy that first caught my attention.

 Male and female Evening Grosbeak on the feeder and a female Black headed Grosbeak on the fence.

These guys travel in flocks which would explain why there were 6 or 8 at a time in the yard. 

Today they seemed to be everywhere. 

The male Black Headed Grosbeak.

Love must be in the air.

Couples everywhere.

This guy was a bit more elusive. 

It's a Spotted Towhee but I couldn't get him to pose for me.

And in the less flashy but still cute category we have these two:

 A Gray Headed Junco...

and a Chipping Sparrow.

But the one bird that I could not get a picture of was the Western Tanager. He flew by me twice but never settled.   You will have to settle for a picture from BirdwatchersDigest.com:

The Western Tanager.

A real show-stopper.

And of course the Hummingbirds are here.   They showed up a couple of weeks ago.

Turf wars have already begun. I'm going to need more feeders.   Last week when we had our (hopefully) last snow, I snapped this picture.  Poor guy.

 This was taken from inside. He had to come around to the window side to find a 

spot that wasn't snow covered.

This is probably the same bird, a male Broadtailed Hummingbird.

He has been guarding this feeder with a vengeance.

And this sweetie is a female Black-Chinned Hummingbird.

I can't wait to see what else will come. Even the neighbors who have lived in Colorado forever say they have never seen so many birds.  We are attributing all the visitors to the abundance of snow we have had compared to the past few years. Who knows!?

On a more entertaining note, while I have been typing the girlies went to McDonalds for a dinner of French Fries and McFlurries. (I know, I know. I am a fabulous mother that prepares healthy and tasty meals for her children.)  In the drive-through lane they had to wait a bit longer than usual.
I don't know if he was ordering a salad or just checking out the leaves surrounding the speaker.
But I can assure you we don't have this problem at home in Texas. At least not in the city. 

Deer in the drive-through.

Business as usual.

And on an even MORE entertaining note, Bunny looked out the window last week and asked me "Mom, does that lantern out there ever turn on?" 

Ummm.....Honey, that lantern is the bird feeder. 

I love how teenagers are so observant.  It's probably all of that health food I feed them.

Have a great week.

Flowers in the House,

Flowers in the House, Visitors Outside


It's another "Flowers in the House" day and I'm linking up again with Jane at Small but Charming.

Love having fresh flowers in the house and kudos to Safeway for offering daffodils at ridiculously low prices this past weekend. Daffs all over the house now. Yay!  Particularly wonderful as we are having visitors this week and nothing says "Welcome" like fresh flowers. (Well,  maybe some wine and cheese. And chocolates? Fresh baked goods?)


Anyway, flowers in the house:

 On the mantel

And on the table.

Aren't they lovely?

And outside, the garden is popping up.  This week should be in the 60s with lots of sun so I expect things to start happening outside now.

 Tulips (I think?!) in a zoo.  (prison)

I really need to learn to label things.

Tulips along with allium (or agapanthus - can't remember) in another zoo.
Again. Label. Label. Label.

Carlos has been enjoying the sun on the back deck.

But the squirrels terrorize and tease him. It is so not fair.

And since I STILL have not figured this out entirely,

click "HERE" to see it if there is no video evident.

and 

Again, click "HERE" if no video.

I finally had to call the poor dog in after about ten minutes because he was not giving up.

The deer stopped by to eat the pine branches that fell from the weight of Saturday's snow.

Who, me?

And the birds stopped by to see what I've put in the bird feeder.

It's interesting because one year I put food in the feeder and three months later, the food was still there. 

Last year, I put bird seed in it again and had only deer eating out of it.

This year, I tried again (Hope springs eternal!) and Voilá! birds.

 These Steller jays are enormous compared to our Texas bluejays.

I thought everything was bigger in Texas?

 Their blue is so iridescent.

 A little sparrow?

Need to get the bird book out.

Nope. A chickadee!

Chickadee butt

 A barn swallow? 

And a male American Robin.

If we have Robins, Spring must not be far behind. Right??

Happy Monday.

Hope Springs...

Hope Springs Eternal….

    One of my favorite lines:

    Hope springs eternal....

    It's from An Essay on Man: Epistle I by Alexander Pope and the full line is 

Hope springs eternal in the human breast:

Man never is, but always to be blest:

The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,

Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

Not the easiest to understand but I love the first line….Hope springs eternal.
That I get. 

There's always hope. 

And there is hope for Spring to come. 

Out the front door: February 1

This past week in my tiny corner of Colorado we have been teased, taunted, and flirted with.

The highs have been in the 50s and even skirted 60º a day or two.

Lows have been at 32° or at least right around there. 

Let me tell you, 40° at 7:00am feels like summer. 

I open the door for Carlos and follow him out, barefoot. 

Today the laundry called, the floors begged to be swept, and dishes whined from the sink "wash us".

And I went outside, escaping the cacophony of chores to enjoy the promise of Spring. 

Snow is melting and creating tiny rivers bubbling down the road sides. The sound is delightful, so much so that I recorded it for you:

Sweet Carlos would have liked to play in that water.

Stupid barbed wire fence. 

And that is the wind that you hear above the bubbling.

(There is also an awful amount of mud outside my back door, but you've got to take the good with the bad. Reality bites some times.)

All that snow melting makes mud. 

My neighbor, familiar with the wildlife, agreed when I asked if the bears would stir from their winter sleep if this weather kept up. Not for good, but for a snack before tucking back in for the rest of the winter. 

Because there will be more winter. I'm not kidding myself. 

But today I went out and looked for Spring. 

Neighbor said the bears might come out to nibble on grass. 

And I thought "Poor babies. There's nothing but dead grass. Might as well stay tucked in their dens."

Then I found tiny shoots of green peeking out from the mud and ice.

Green peeking out from the dead brown.

Branch ends are budding. I wasn't sure at first. But then I realized it was only the branches at the top, the sides facing the sun, the parts of the tree that got the most heat and most light exposure. Those buds are for real. 

The promise of tiny leaves.

And Look!  Bulbs from the previous home owner have sent up a couple of leaves...when did that happen? This spot has been under snow for...for forever. 

I think these are irises.

I've never been here in the Spring to actually see them bloom.

But this year…this year I will see!

  

It's like Christmas for Carlos. Toys thrown and then not retrieved, the distraction of a deer or bunny taking over, were lost in the snow. Slowly they are reappearing. 

We've been looking for this ball.

I've found three balls that I thought were lost. 

Spring will come. 

It won't stay this time but it will visit for a few days, leave and return. 

Out the front door today.

I know. 

Because ...

Hope springs eternal in the human breast. 

(I wrote this on Tuesday afternoon. Now it's Wednesday afternoon and guess what? 
Yep, it's snowing. )