September 24th

Monday, September 24th, 2018

With wedding #1 down, Paul and I are spending this week getting the patch ready for opening on Friday.

I was walking the field picking Casperitas and gourds when I heard a bird chirping. This isn’t abnormal, as many birds have nests and take cover  in the patch. However, this bird was following me and was very insistent in its chirping.

I looked up and was pleasantly surprised to see this sweet male Downy Woodpecker. I stood up and watched him for a bit, and he was just as interested in me and I was in him.

The only camera I had with me was my 24-105mm, not ideal for birding. That lens is much better suited for landscapes, not for zooming in on pinpointed subjects. You have to be relatively close to your subject for them to fill the frame.

With wild birds, that’s pretty much always a no-go. They never let me get that close.

However, I got ten feet away from this guy, and he wasn’t concerned. He simply hopped from sunflower stalk to sunflower stalk, continually chirping at me.

It was so neat!

March 19th

Monday, March 19th, 2018

I started out today feeling crummy (overcast skies had me feeling blah), but ended the day with a full heart.

Good friends are priceless. I spent my morning having coffee with one, and I left feeling so refreshed and full of purpose.

And then once I got home, my spirits were lifted even higher when my printer sent me an image of a new product I had ordered from him. It looks awesome! Head over to my Facebook or Instagram for a sneak peek! I’ll be picking them up tomorrow – I can’t wait!

For the cherry on top, my daily walk in the woods yielded an encounter with a female Downy Woodpecker. I see them quite often, but to catch them staying still in one spot is the trick. She was beautiful!

April 1st

Saturday, April 1, 2017

This day was beautiful. 65 degrees and full sun!

Paul and I sat out in our ground blind this morning, and everyone was out moving around. On our walk out we heard our Barred Owl pair hooting back and forth, saw a rooster pheasant run through the trees, and throughout our sit the Sandhill Cranes were screaming at each other, no doubt defending nesting ground.

While we didn’t see anything other than birds and squirrels while we sat, it was incredible how close the birds would come and sit by us. This female Downy Woodpecker was especially fun to watch.

After sitting for over an hour and a half we decided to walk to a different area of the woods. Paul cruised out ahead of me, and I took my time mainly because I was trying to spot one of the owls. At one point I looked up, and saw a White Tailed Deer bounding through the brush to my left. Paul hadn’t seen her as he was still walking out ahead. A split second later, a loud “crash-crash-crash” came from my right, and a second doe was coming right at me, scared up by Paul. She was in a panic, bounding right for me; I raised my camera but she was too close. At about fifteen feet out she finally saw me and made a last minute dive and changed course. It was INCREDIBLE. Like nothing I had ever experienced before. Something a camera can’t capture.