Tag Archive | cardinals

Cardinals Taking a Shower in the Rosebush

The sprinkler was on, hitting the rosebush, and a cardinal couple were enjoying taking a shower in this dry (as in not rainy) humid heat.

I was pulling tons of weeds. I kept thinking maybe I could wait until winter. Ha! It feels like 90 already. But I figured if I could get out really early, maybe I could get some of this done before it was way too hot. In the back, I have a lot of shade. In the front, it gets really sunny early.

But…I found that some of my crepe myrtles that volunteered in the front yard, are finally getting big enough to provide some shade and the great thing about that? I made a mistake in planting some sedum that just takes over everything. It’s not pretty and little and flowery. It’s just weedy looking. Sooooo, I’ve fought it for years, pulled it out and pulled it out, but it’s always there. Until the crepe mytles started shading them out and then the sedum got leggy, not compact and hard to remove. Soooo, I was able to pull out a ton of it and maybe I will finally get a handle on it. And I managed to mostly tackle three flowerbeds. Again, because the other plants are starting to shade out the weeds also. That was my plan. I just didn’t think it would take 10 years to work. lol

But today, I need to do edits on the July book release and so off I go to immerse myself in the red wolf pack of Portland, Oregon.

Have a super fine day! Mine is off to a great start!!!

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear:

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A Montage of Cardinals

Jul9

Some of these were taken in my yard, some at a birders stand in Texas. I love cardinals. I keep trying to capture video of the ones playing in the birdbath, but I miss getting my camera ready in time. There was a beautiful swallow-tailed kite flying overhead yesterday when I took all the dogs out. They’re just amazing. Probably looking for my little birds to serve them dinner.

So day 1, the 4 dogs have been fine. I have them through Wednesday. I managed to get to 8,000 words done on Big Cat Magic. Can’t wait to see the cover for it.

I’m off to try and get another 2,000 today. At least that’s always the the plan. But I also need to come up with an idea for more scenes and if I dry up, that’s all she wrote. lol

We had a heat index of 109 yesterday. It’s only going to get worse.

Have a terrific day!

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”
Connect with Terry Spear:
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Cardinal Daddy and Baby

May23

I love observing animal behavior. The baby has been eating on his own with his sister all this time. But here comes daddy cardinal and baby is opening his beak, flapping his wings, as if he were in the nest still, needing nourishment.

Daddy obliges, but then he was back to foraging for himself.

Silver Town Wolf: Home for the Holidays. It might sound like it’s a Hallmark Classic, but it’s my regular paranormal romantic suspense–dead bodies, ghosts, wolf shifters, romance, you know, the usual.

I’m off to write! Trying to get 3,000 words today. Managed 1,000 yesterday on baby day, but also got 60 books ready to ship, another 30 to go.

Have a beautiful day!!!

Terry

Follow Me for new releases and book deals: www.bookbub.com/authors/terry-spear

Baby Cardinals

May19

Still doggy sitting. Kids didn’t get in until really late last night. Even with running dogs in an out all day yesterday, I managed to get 4,000 words. Still 26,000 word behind from my original goal. (Due to stopping to write a novella, edit a book, and proof another–I have to remind myself.)

But yesterday, I kept noticing that every time I went out with the dogs, one or two at a time, a female cardinal was having fits. Normally, they fly off, but this time, she just kept chirping at all of us. So late last night while I was working on my computer, I saw two of them in the rosebush. I was thinking they were the momma and baby, but they’re two babies, their beaks not orange yet. The feeder is above them, but empty. The squirrels knocked all the food out of them on the ground, and they’ve claimed the feeders and the food on the ground for their own. lol

Tenacious little baby birds. Normally, the adult cardinals just fly off when the other birds come to eat–the blue jays, woodpeckers, mockingbirds, and doves. But these baby females are hungry and momma and daddy told them this food was for them.

Okay, hoping the kids don’t sleep in too late and come and pick up their furbabies soon. I’m trying for 3,000 a day to try and catch up. My goal is normally 2,000 a day. But now I have to write two more novellas, so I need to get cracking.

Have a beautiful day! We had a great storm yesterday, supposed to rain today, but it looks clear now. Hope to get some more baby bird pictures when it’s a little lighter out!

Remember, even if you’re trying to get stuff done, notice the wonders of life around you. It’s amazing what goes on outside of us.

Terry

Follow Me for new releases and book deals: www.bookbub.com/authors/terry-spear

Do You Ever Hope Problems Will Go Away?

Aug3

Mourning doves sleeping, male cardinal, and female cardinal getting a snack.

By themselves? Like, if you ignore it long enough, it will right itself? Do they? Ever?

Okay, my list, I realize, is starting to grow. I can’t get logged into my Mac. Maybe it’s more secure from predators with all the hoops you have to go through to access your darn computer, but if the person who owns it can’t, then it’s a FAIL.

Next, I take a shower and my toilet starts to gurgle. And then my shower won’t drain. If I run the water in the sink after taking a shower, the toilet gurgles. Ugh. Maybe the water level is so high (we did have a lot of rain the other day, ignore the fact we had a lot of drought the first time), that was the problem, but guess what? It’s NOT going away.

Then, my garbage disposal isn’t running. I rarely, rarely use it. For the last twenty years, I’ve lived in rural homes and you couldn’t use one for a septic tank. They always install them in the homes, but I never used them. So, by habit, I dump stuff I can in the composter, and anything else in the trash. Why did the stupid thing go out on me in 2 1/2 years then? Ludicrous. I’ve tried the reset button. I hear a tiny grinding, so it’s trying to do something. And there’s nothing stuck in there because I never put anything in there but maybe the remnants of gravy, or something. And yes, I run water in there at the same time.

And…my low tire light came on in my car. So I fill the tires up with air and it continues to show low tire. The last time this happened, I ended up getting some bark mulch, my car was weighted down, and without adding any more air to the tire, it suddenly reset itself and no more warning light. Maybe I need to get a ton more bark mulch to fix it again? If everything could be so easy! Oh, wait, putting more air in the tires should have been enough, right?

If only I could call one person to fix everything, wouldn’t that be great?

Terry

Follow Me for new releases and book deals: www.bookbub.com/authors/terry-spear

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Rain-Free for a Few More Days

Aug31

We are usually praying for rain, but yesterday, it started to sprinkle and we were all out cleaning up yards, and there was a sense of panic–oh no, not more rain. We were still under 16 flood warnings yesterday, and we were getting stuff together to donate to the shelters.

One of my neighbors had a pine tree snap in two, but luckily it missed his house. I worried about some of the others, mine included, as I watched a neighbor behind me and across the street whose pine tree was swaying in the wind. They’re around eighty feet or taller and they used to be surrounded by forests, so the trees grew up together, supported each other, and now they’re on their own. The pine tree in the cloudy sunset picture, distant center is the tree that was swaying so much. I didn’t want to look and see what my trees were doing. You can see the twig flying horizontally to the ground also.

Cardinals, momma feeding male baby during Hurricane Harvey rainstorms 900

sunset, twig flying, winds, after Hurricane Harvey rains 900

house finches seeking shelter from the rain under the hood of the birdfeeder 900

Wet house finches trying to catch a bite to eat under the roof of the feeder. You can see the slashes of rain around them. Wet momma cardinal feeding male juvenile on the patio while it was pouring.

When I closed my eyes last night, I saw rain. It’s amazing what the power of an image will have on you. When we weren’t having lightning storms, or were under a tornado watch or warning, I would work at my computer and see the rain. Constant, unending rain. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was like a water faucet had been turned on and got stuck. Even last year in the spring when we had all the flooding of roads and homes due to a different kind of storm system, it wasn’t this bad. It would stop intermittently. This just wouldn’t, except for the 20 minutes that one day I got out to take pictures of the pond.

We have more rain predicted for Tuesday, but that’s down from yesterday when they were predicting Monday and Tuesday. We’re down to 9 flood warnings, so the water is receding. My son-in-law is going to try to make it into work today. He tried yesterday and had to turn around and work from home again.

Otherwise, the chance for rain is slim, and we even have sunny days coming. And the heat will be here today and tomorrow, but then it’s going to be around 80s, which helps because the cleanup crews have to work in all of this. The bad news, besides all this other bad news, is that the mosquitoes will be swarming in a couple of weeks. We’ve had Nile virus out here before, so fingers crossed we’re okay.

Deadlines are beckoning. Hope you have a great day!

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear:

Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

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Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears

Cardinals–Daddy, Mama, Babies

May21

I saw a male cardinal with a harem, until I caught one of the babies up close, and then realized two of the “females” were juveniles, and the one is probably a male. 🙂 <3

The cardinal in the nest were at my old home. I never did see the babies, but I didn’t want to disturb them too much either. I didn’t even know they were there until I went to the “barn” and discovered her in the youpon holly tree right next to one of the windows. I didn’t have that great a zoom lens at the time either. If you look really closely at the center of the nest, you can see a baby cardinal with its beak open, waiting for a meal. The other is next to him, but it’s harder to see.

We had lovely rains yesterday evening, and my SIL fixed my computer!!! Which meant I didn’t write as much as I wanted to. But I’m over halfway done. And I walked the baby for over 3.5 miles, and so that was good too! Both my daughter and son-in-law have been sick, so they didn’t want me helping out for the past week, which is why I got so much done on the new book.

It goes to show I’ve been slacking off before this. lol

Have a great day!

Terry Spear

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear:

Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears

Gone to the Birds…

May11

The birds stop coming to the feeders and that means something is wrong. So I check, yep, seed is wet and moldy again. So I clean out the feeder, don’t put as much in this time. The no-melt suet was completely gone. All the birds loved it. I couldn’t find it again, so I picked up berry suet and the birds are happy. But also, I tried apples and they didn’t appeal to anyone. So I cute up an orange. The birds like that.

So here is a bluebird, mockingbird, uhm, cardinals got into my tomato plants, dove,

and titmouse. A bluejay was there, but missed getting a picture. And the gold finches love the berry suet and the oranges.

And!!! A mockingbird was drinking from the new fountain. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the camera ready fast enough. But thanks to my friend, Donna, she said they will come. I just have to give things time. 🙂

Just like with writing. Have new hard drive. Hope this will solve all my problems!!

Terry

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy is reality.”

Connect with Terry Spear:

Website: http://www.terryspear.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/421434.Terry_Spear

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrySpearParanormalRomantics

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerrySpear

Wilde & Woolly Bears http://www.celticbears.com