Drama in the Garden

The first bit of drama actually occurred right outside the backdoor when I went to put seed out...discovering that everything was totally covered in a thin sheet of ice.  Which resulted in a very cautious retreat to the house.  The ice also encompassed our entire driveway so I decided not to make my grand debut back at the gym today.  The trail Hubs dug to our wood shed is like a high speed skating rink so we are not enjoying a roaring fire today either.  

However, I did manage to put my little camp stool a few feet from the back door on the deck and huddled in the frigid weather until my feet lost feeling, happily snapping away.  This is by far my worst photo technically but I kind of like the story it tells.  

Most of you are familiar with starlings, those noisy creatures seeming to lack in any vestige of manners.  They are bullies at the feeders, knocking birds off using full body-tackles and other similar moves.  So what you have here is a small Downy Woodpecker who'd retreated to a branch near me while the big, bully starling guarded the feeder.  The woodpecker looks much larger here only because he's much closer to me.  And, in case you're wondering, I let the starling grab a few morsels before waving an arm in the air to scare him off, at which point the woodpecker returned to feed.  

I really should have worked on our taxes today.  I've been procrastinating it, along with several other financial-related tasks.  Maybe tomorrow...

I was reading some of my blips from this same time last year when Covid was just a side-story in the news.  We had no idea what was coming.

Stay safe, be kind...don't run out of chocolate!

xo
Debbi