Today it is gloomy and raining. The temps are in the high 30's so the rain is that fun kind of rain. You know, the kind of rain that sucks the will to stay outside right out of you. Fred gets to the door and tells me that he can wait till it stops raining. Bob doesn't care. If I'm outside , he wants to be outside. The rain does seem to bring mallards into the yard. There is a pond that rarely freezes over about 100 yards from our house where the mallards have homesteaded. Pat and I have provided food for the mallards for the last 7 years. The various generations are used to Pat and me as long as we do not get too close. Bob seems oblivious to the them. There must not be any ducks-are-food DNA in Bob. Fred wants to chase anything that walks into the yard, so when the ducks come into the yard, we take Fred inside. Today, the ducks came into the yard in 3 different family groups. I snuck the pictures through a gap in the sun room door. No matter how gloomy it is outside, there is always beauty to be found.
These guys are probably saying: "Hey, they're just taking pictures. Well, more food for us."
The background noise is rain. You can also hear the ducks talking to each other.
Your photos perfectly show how gloomy the day was. But, then they also show the beauty of the ducks. I just love the pictures you got of them in mid-flight. You are so right, there is always something beautiful going on outside.
I never touched a plant till Pat and I moved to Cleveland from Chicago. Our house came with trees and trees and more trees. it also came with overgrown landscaping that hadn't been tended to for 15 years. Pat's always been the gardener. I love hanging out with Pat and I know how to use a shovel. Along the way I discovered a love of gardening. But first, We had to take 12 trees down and 40 dead bushes out. Hosta, ligularia, and sedum are my favorite plants.
Our yard is clay. Clay, clay and more clay. Clay all the way to the center of the earth. The people at the conservation district told us that " we're at the wrong end of the glacier". I nodded the nod of the intimidated and have repeated it ever since. We are true belivers in sweet peet and work in 15 yards every spring. Our back yard faces north and is a good 6 feet lower than the house. Most of the back yard is moist year round. Except for the north east corner, the yard is under shade or partial shade. The front yard is mainly sunny. We are in zone 5b.
5 comments:
Jim,
The snow falling on your blog site is neat.For a moment I thought it was my monitor screen," meeting the big injun"as we say in the South.
Wow! I thought maybe a couple of ducks. You had a lot of ducks!
My dog says it is cold and wet, and she really doesn't HAVE to go out...Later maybe.
I see you finally got some snow, (on your blog at least) lol.
Hi Jim,
Your photos perfectly show how gloomy the day was. But, then they also show the beauty of the ducks. I just love the pictures you got of them in mid-flight. You are so right, there is always something beautiful going on outside.
I love your mallards - and the snow in your blog. Wish we had some real snow. It would make the cold dismal weather more bearable somehow.
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