Of Moles and Men and English Teachers Too

I usually try to come up with some sort of a theme to write a post about. Sometimes it requires the reader to work hard to make the connection as all they see is a bunch of photos; some of the time they might even wonder why someone would have even wasted the effort to aim the camera and push the shutter. It's just me attempting to be creative.

This morning was a cold one (23 F at 8am) and when I stepped out in the backyard with the dog I could see the moles had been extra busy overnight. Maybe they need to dig faster to keep warm. They better hurry because the ground will be frozen soon. Now you may not notice this but if you look hard in the photo above you can see the earth has been disturbed where the moles are tunneling. The dog can always smell they have been around.

If you are following my quilt blog you might have noticed that this week's block was called Grapes of Wrath. I guess that is what has inspired my literary connections for this weekend.

"Two paths diverged in a yellow wood and sorry I could not take them both..." Robert Frost had other meaning for his words but that piece came into mind as I noticed these two paths diverging in my woods this morning. I have had a number of sightings of two bucks in my backyard in the past few weeks. On Wednesday they were browsing on bushes in the woods quite near the house but it was a dismal day and the photo I tried to take did not come out well at all. The photo above shows deer A took the left path while deer B chose the right path. Frankly I wish they'd just purchase a one way ticket and take the path down the driveway and out of my yard altogether.


Given it was a cold morning my men made brunch and decided to include a good serving of grits to stick the ribs together.


And finally in my series of "the intention was there but the photographer couldn't quite carry through on the idea" is my photo of an exciting visitor to the back yard last week. It was a glorious sighting of a pileated woodpecker. They are much larger than the woodpeckers we usually see in the trees out back. Known as very shy birds they were the inspiration for the Woody Woodpecker character.

The bird baths have been turned over for a few weeks now and I feel badly for my bird friends. It must be time to install the bird spa that I got last December. Since we put it on the railing of the deck it might entice the birds closer so they are easier to see than this one shown above in the black walnut tree. Of course, any visiting woodpeckers would need to understand our hospitality in terms of the deck is only that they use the bird bath. Any pecking they need to do can be satisfied on the many trees out back.