Thru windshield across the Mississippi at
La Crosse  evening clouds

No, blogger family I have not abandoned my blog though it may seem so.  Just no tiome to write so many thoughts and happenings.  Those of you on Facebook can keep up. others, not so. You are indeed my family along with so many long time friends.  It's just that it has been the busy time again.  I have managed all the trimming. pruning, clipping and weeding  all on my own this year while Jerry is nicely recovering from his back surgery.  It takes a bit of time and spring does adventure near for days or so here and then retreat through the rain and the colder temps.  What colder?  Why just a few months ago 54 degrees would have felt balmy, today it's nippy and calls for jeans and jacket  again although I did wear sandals all day to show off my pedicure.    

I have oft commented that some people use Facebook as a blog, they go on an d on and on.  I do not do so nor do I set up diatribes there,  but admit that Facebook is so much easier, post  a photo here and there from the phone and download and comment.  So for those of you who do not join in, I miss you.  And I do try to check in on blog, but this time of year time  flies.  From workout in the AM to domestic chores and errands, pretty soon  the day wanes.  and I find myself  in the refrain of retirees, "where does the time go?"  I have lots of mental thoughts to ponder but little time at the keyboard. 

One backyard bird feeder

Gold finches gather off back deck  thistle feeder

Orioles busy feeding on  grape jelly

The birds are feasting. especially the orioles who consume copious amounts of grape jelly.  A quart in 3 days is not unusual.  Sam's club was out the other day when we stopped so I had to buy generic jars at the Quillin's market locally.  The orioles did not object.   I must be the only one in this neighborhood feeding them. Some locals complain they have not seen any--please call and I will send some of our hundreds your way.    Hope our next door neighbors who are  also Morrison's return soon from their winter in Arizona because Tim feeds the birds and our birds await.  Rather expensive here meantime. 

End of our street cul de sac  blooms abide

So bloggers there has been scarce online time, please follow on Facebook.  l hope to catch up soon, but   ???

Wall is done and all's wall

Just a couple buckets and a barrow to take
The great wall of Morrison 2012 is complete

Yesterday was the finale of our 2012 construction with the ruts in the lawn repaired, reseeded,  hay thrown to keep it damp and the wall looks on silently.   We seldom to never use the bottom patio which is off our downstairs TV/rec room, the door you see to the far right in the photo. So I'm thinkin' that maybe next year will  add a big gazebo and a place to sit and enjoy the lower back 40.  I know if I mention this  the more practical side of this household will ask me just when we would sit there since we sit little while we are home and we travel 5 months or so out of the year.  That is more logical and then there are the MN state birds aka mosquitoes which discourage outside sitting, that is why we have that finished 4 season room that you see jutting out from the house above the wall.   

Side of the wall

The crew did a great job, cleaned up after themselves and we are completely satisfied.  It was a good solid week of work for 4 men  and sometimes only 2 for a couple hours.  The entire neighborhood has been coming over to admire the great wall.  I suppose we should host a party there below and let everyone get an eyeful. 

I was surprised that all the river rock which is atop each layer has a whitish cast, but the landscaper assured me that will wash off when the rains come or when the dust settles off.  He said that depending on where they purchase the rock, the shadings are different ranging from this whitish to  reddish to a blue tone.  Oh if he had given me my choice I"d have taken red or maybe blue, just to see the different effect. 

Here they  spread hay over the newly reseeded back
lawn where the bobcat had grooved ruts

This is one project that ran almost exactly as planned once they started, which was a month later than expected.  The other evening I was sitting out back and watching a flock of robins gather in, almost meet and discuss and then trot up and down the  equipment ruts in the lawn.  I have not a clue what mesmerized them but as we watched the flock divided up went all along, both tracks parallel and  one after another side by side, back and forth a couple times,  wished I'd captured that photo.  There is always something amusing to see watching birds.

Scattering hay over new seed at driveway end

  I was very impressed with the clean up the crew did of the driveway  and even the front street.  It reminded me of my Polish grandmother mopping herself out of the kitchen to go to mass on Sunday mornings.  Neighbors commented on how these guys clean up after themselves.  Our next door neighbors are still in upheaval with their move in tasks and mentioned how they envy that our project is done while their entire front lawn is still  a disaster from the digging to hook up to the city water and sewer system.  They have just had their  driveway and sidewalk redone where the concrete had been damaged.  I teased her and said, that we had to have something torn up too so that they did not get all the attention on the cul de sac for construction or destruction.

Shoveling off the dirt and debris from our side
driveway as the crew completed street
cleanup.

Jerry had no complaints about this crew's workmanship which is a big deal.  Usually there is something that does not quite measure up to the way he would do things or not.  This is a local construction company, Beuhler and they have a solid reputation around town.  Yesterday as they were tidying up and loading the last of their debris, I snapped some photos that have Jerry caught in the act of his overseer role.  It almost looks as though he was watching closely with a baseball bat ready to use it if there was something not to his liking.  You can see him posed in the photo below overlooking the end of the project.   The "miniature" lilac bush, Miss Kim took a good whacking out of the  bottom of herself and I will have to get in there soon and  trim her back.  For several years she has needed an adjustment and we never seem to get to her, so this is a good opportunity.  Miss Kim does not know that she is supposed to be a miniature, planted by the previous owners of this place, she thrives and is way overgrown.  She is to the left in the photo below of Jerry at the top of the wall.  

Overseer with big stick

New wall, something to be happy about.  New trellis also below the house.

It's wall over a transformation  Especially when compared
to how it looked just a week ago,  hooray!

This is how it used to be, it had seen better  days. 
  Those solid blocks of Winona stone were all hauled off, which seems a
waste to me who loves to repurpose things, but no one wanted them, least of all us.

And last as  I harvested more apples from the backyard tree, I saw this wonderful bird's nest, sans eggs or occupants.  There is always something going on in or back yard.  Maybe I can catch other critters and see what they think of the new arrangements.   

Birds nest in apple tree. 

Woody the Woodpecker is alive and well and destructive

We have heard that they are not often sighted and occur in pairs, the pileated woodpecker, the model for Woody the Woodpecker of our cartoon fame.  I remember laughing like silly when I watched Woody's antics.  Wikipedia offers this  "Woody Woodpecker cartoons were first broadcast on television in 1957 under the title The Woody Woodpecker Show, which featured Lantz cartoons bookended by new footage of Woody and live-action footage of Lantz. Woody has a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 7000 Hollywood Boulevard.

Woody Woodpecker is an animated cartoon character, an anthropomorphic acorn woodpecker who appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz animation studio and distributed by Universal Pictures. Though not the first of the screwball characters that became popular in the 1940s, Woody is perhaps the most indicative of the type.  Woody was created in 1940 by storyboard artist Ben "Bugs" Hardaway, who had previously laid the groundwork for two other screwball characters, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, at the Warner Bros. cartoon studio in the late 1930s. Woody's character and design would evolve over the years, from an insane bird with an unusually garish design to a more refined looking and acting character."

I remember the Woody Woodpecker Song, do you?   Actually he was one of my  favorite cartoons so I suppose I should honor his nemesis here in MN in our yard, but really. " In 1947, Woody got his own theme song when musicians George Tibbles and Ramey Idriss wrote "The Woody Woodpecker Song", making ample use of the character's famous laugh. Kay Kyser's 1948 recording of the song, with Harry Babbitt's laugh interrupting vocalist Gloria Wood, became one of the biggest hit singles of 1948 Other artists did covers, including Woody's original voice actor, Mel Blanc. Lantz first used "The Woody Woodpecker Song" in the 1948 short Wet Blanket Policy, and became the first and only song from an animated short subject to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song; Lantz soon adopted the song as Woody's theme music, and due to the song's popularity, Woody Woodpecker fan clubs sprang up, theaters held "Woody" matinees, and boys got the "Woody Woodpecker" haircut.  Woody's wild days were numbered, however. In 1946, Lantz hired Disney veteran Dick Lundy to take over the direction chores for Woody's cartoons. Lundy made Woody more defensive; no longer did the bird go insane without a legitimate reason. "   Maybe our bird just  did not get the memo?

For a few weeks now, from our kitchen window, we have been watching this big guy land at the back yard bird feeder station and posts.  He is immense with a wingspan the size of a small hawk.  We will attempt to get better photos but for now, here is our destructive Woody.  Bird watchers think us  fortunate to have this guy, I am not so sure after today;  in this picture to the right of him you can see whitish stuff, that is the remnant of the post which he has just started to destroy yesterday, and has made great progress. The adjective "insane" seems to fit this character because if we don't get something done, he is going to take the  station down!  That white streak to the right of him is opened wood, on the  4   x 6 post which he has shredded away, huge shreds  and splinters of wood  are all over the ground below.   Check out the size of his beak!  He attacks with it, we have seen him go after a squirrel that he thought ventured too close. Here you see him moving the suet feeder and better exposing the destruction he has wreaked!  I can tell you I was not singing the Woody song today when I watched him, nor was I trying to mimic that Woody laugh, which I was quite good at in my childhood, driving my mother around the bend.  We have heard that people in this area disdain building homes of wood, fearing the woodpeckers will seek out pecking orders and with what he has done to the post you can imagine the fear of having your home pecked to death by a bird! 

Just so you can see for yourself his size, the right in this photo shows the bird feeder tube which is about  two feet long, it is to discourage squirrels as the seed doors shut down from their weight when they land there.  You can see Woody  is at least half the length of the tube, which  Jerry refilled after these photos.  We enjoy watching the birds and there used to be several other kinds of woodpeckers at the suet feeder but not lately. I mean would you want to take on this beak?