More Flickers

The Northern Flicker woodpecker visits the deck after the suet frequently.  He's skittish about getting his picture taken.  If another flicker comes by or a Western Scrub Jay, he will fly at them to make them leave...or he will back down to the newcomer...Joining Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and later Anni's Bird d'Pot.

Winter's Eve

For Tanya's Willy Nilly Friday Five, Tricky's Five on Friday  and Eileen's Saturday's Critters:

1. A walk in the yard, stopping to take an interesting photo or two...

2.  Gathering sticks for making a fire in the woodstove....

3.  Keeping an eye out for passing mule deer...

4.  Stoking up the fire as the temperature drops outside...

5. Coyotes howl as the night gets cold and dark....and in the morning comes the snow....

Dozens of Dark Eyed Juncos!

There is nothing prettier in the snow than a junco, I think! We are getting so many of them on the back deck after the suet feeder!   Joining in with Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and later Anni's  Bird d'Pot.

The Treasure of Books

My entire life, I have loved books!  I also love owning books, and I have read (my hubby too) more than 3/4 of these books, not including the encyclopedias, and also many books I don't own.  I love classics, histories, biographies, novels and more...I love learning!  These books are definitely treasures in my life, and I am joining today with Tom's Tuesday Treasures.  I also am so thankful I own these wonderful books, and also can read them because of good eyesight and health, so I am joining in also with Michelle's Thankful Thursday! 

Just a few photos of the books I own.....

And closeups of some of the books...

And, whenever I live in a new area, I always read as much as I can about that area's culture.  My first love is SE America, where I am from, and where the country began, but while in Tucson I read a lot about the SW, including learning about the Tohono O'odham Indians.  And now I am reading more and more about the NW.

I had read vol I of the Lewis and Clark Journals many years ago, and recently read vol II.  Cabin Fever was a delight.  To The Bright Edge of the World was more of a fantasy that took place in this area.

Five Things

I want to try something new for Tanya's Willy Nilly Friday Five and Tricky's Five on Friday.  I may do this about once a month.  I will post five photos, but beneath them will be five interesting trivia history facts you may or may not know!  You can let me know in the comments if you knew any of them, or what you thought of them as well as the photos.  It might be fun!

Today's photos are five sunset shots from the cul de sac on which I live.  I will also be connecting this post to Mersad's Through My Lens a little later.  The five fun facts concern the year 1804:

The clouds grew dark and rosy as I looked from my back deck

1.   In 1804 it was discovered that two candles next to one another put out more than twice the light of a single candle.  I remember this fact from the tours I used to give at the Moses Myers House in Norfolk, Va many years ago!

I moved out to the front yard and began to walk through our cul de sac (there are only three actual houses IN the cul de sac, including ours)

2.  In 1804 2/3 of the world's silver was being mined in Mexico.  This made Mexico strategically important to a number of countries! In America the Comstock Lode was discovered in Nevada in 1858.  In 2015 Alaska was our largest silver producer. Chile and British Columbia have also had high amounts in the past.

  This is the view from our next door neighbor's back yard!   This is Deschutes Canyon where the Deschutes River flows past down below us.  The road that leads down is behind our property...but I have to admit I am a little jealous of this next door neighbor's view! :-)[Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's backyard view!]

3.  Sticking with silver as a subject...the 1804 Bust Silver Dollar was actually struck in 1803 and a few years before, and is currently one of the most valuable silver coins.  There are only 15 known 1804 Bust Silver Dollars left!   Maybe you have one in your junk drawer!

4.  In 1804 the New England states were strongly considering seceding from the Union of our new country because they were annoyed that so many Virginians were in power (Jefferson was President) and the new capitol city was being carved out of land in the south.  Perhaps their own grandchildren were rabid unionists however when the south moved to secede in 1861.

5.  For my European friends...I promise I will include more trivia from your side of the pond next time.  I want to close with Nathaniel Hawthorne's birth in Salem, Massachusetts on July 4, 1804.  He is one of our literary treasures (and an ancestor of one of my dearest cousins!) He wrote such classic works as The Scarlet Letter and House of the Seven Gables.

Here is a photo (from the internet) of his birthplace which is open to the public.

Thankful Things

I didn't have any birds to share this week, but I do have photos of two things I am very thankful for that I would like to share with Thankful Thursday!  We had a very severe winter last year when we first arrived, and I am thankful for getting through that with the help of neighbors, but I am also thankful that we have had such a mild winter this year.  It's a mixed blessing.  We've had three snows, none more than 2 inches.  Last night we got a little dusting. Bend, where our kids live 50 minutes away, always gets a little more, and even Redmond which is closer.  We feel blessed to have such a mild winter, but in a way I miss not getting more snow!  As I said, a mixed blessing. :-)

I am thankful that when we moved in there was an old cord of wood stacked in the side yard, which we used a lot of last year, but still have some left!  I am thankful that our grandson helped my hubby put together this wood rack to put on the deck so I don't have to go out into the yard to get fire wood! Then our sweet grandson stacked the remaining wood on it for us!  We have such a wonderful grandson!

Scenery with a Few Barns

I got out the other day after being pretty homebound for several days and tried to take a few pictures, but the light wasn't with me.  Overall, my efforts were a little disappointing.  But here is the countryside with a few barns, trying to get the mountains also in the shots.  Joining in with Tom's Barn Collective and Mersad's Through My Lens:

This was the biggest disappointment...I've been dying to take a shot of this barn with the mountains behind it since we moved here.  I only see if from the highway, and I pulled off onto the shoulder with cars whizzing by to get the photos.  But, that's when I discovered that the telephone poles ruin the ambiance of the shot!   I might have to just paint this scene and get rid of the lines. :-)  It's such an awesome little barn!

Magpie and More

Just a look again at the magpie and a few other bird visitors for Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday and later Anni's Bird d'Pot:

I can't often get them to stay put long enough to get a shot!

This closeup shows his beautiful blue wing feathers and I caught him in his leap for the suet feeder next....

Other birds I have a hard time capturing are the little ones who flit and fly so fast...the Mountain Chickadee...

and the Dark Eyed Junco: