Who knew that this type of post would be so fun for me? I hope it is for you too. By the encouragement of Terri and her prompt, let’s see what happens.
So, what’s new here at my little ol’ blog?
This type of post is new to me…I admitted to the fact that it’s finally time for me as a blogger who has been around long enough. . .
to have over 100k views. . .
not to brag, but, to confess it is time for me to greet the new year with a picture-perfect post recapping 2022. because I had a lot of photos to choose from.
I had to make the ginormous task of choosing which photos to use easier so I went with the theme of the last on the card for each month’s review. Also, I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve promised Brian I’d join his Last on the Card prompt. So it is a double win-win, right?
What will you find in this post if you’ve stuck around long enough to get past those few paragraphs above?
If you’re new to the blog, you’ll learn that 2022 was a year of parting ways with stuff for our family. That’s tough for a Dubious MinimalistTM like myself. It was a heart-tugging, give-me-another hug because I’m having a hard time letting go kind of year for me. I spared you much of the sadness, because, jeez, who wants to know that stuff about me? Anyhoo, we survived, and here’s a recap month by month of 2022.
In January, it was cold and snowy. I had to do my typical tax prep stuff that I’ll have to do again this January. BLAH…
In February, after completing tax prep, I was determined to continue purging things. Every sunrise, I’d watch the different moon phases and say a little morning prayer, giving me the strength to keep on purging in preparation for the thrift sale to come. Who knew it would turn out to be the biggest three in a row sales we ever had?
Low-hanging fruit items I parted with included silly things (embarrassing, really!): Toilet paper rolls, wine corks, bottle caps, Copper’s food dish cover, and near-empty perfume bottles because I gave up wearing any chemicals in 2022 (and beyond…!).
In March, Mr. and I finally gave up our old glasses when we went on a date to the eye doctor. After the previous years of date options being duds due to you know what and all the lockdowns, we thought it was the best damn date we’d had gone on in years. If you know us or follow us here, you know we don’t get out much. Mostly because we enjoy the meals made in our own home, our view of our yard, and our bird-watching spots.
In April, I captured my favorite bird photo of all time. I know you’ve seen it before, but, jeez…one more view won’t hurt you. 😂
We also discovered a ginormous mouse nest in our garage. That kicked off the spring projects of finding them, removing them, cleaning up after them, and redoing the stairs that had been around for 31 years. It rained off and on quite a bit in April. The final stairs were done in June (look for that photo later in the post). For those wondering, if we finally knew where the mice entered? NOPE…but we plugged a LOT of holes!
In May, we committed to participating in Mr.’s parents’ GINORMOUS (…there’s that word again, it’s not even a word prompt!) thrift sale. In between moments of prepping for it, I did take some fun nature photos. And Mr. revived our clothesline that was damaged in a storm the previous fall. I planted morning glories and zinnias…that never really survived. And, I parted ways with Copper’s clothes, collar, and leash. I got to meet the little dog who was lucky enough to find the deals at the thrift sale. He looked very happy – that was heart-warming to see.
In June, we parted ways with 9 boxes of clothes that we had no more energy to even price, it felt good to part with them (they were the kids’ clothes and Mr.’s clothes, he’s much better than I am at parting with clothes he no longer wears or that don’t fit him). Maybe this year will be my lucky parting with clothes year? The garage stairs were completed. The 3rd batch of bunnies arrived in the yard and everything looked colorful outside even the Catalpa trees started to bloom.
July brought us many opportunities to see our kids and enjoy the nice summer weather that started to heat up fast. I kept adding to my toilet paper roll collection bag which I eventually donated I couldn’t squeeze one more tube in the bag to a local assisted living that loves to use them for crafts. I haven’t saved another one since! And, I began my battle with the rabbits who ate my flowers all summer long. I didn’t win.
Oh, yeah, I had forgotten that I had successfully purchased a new iPhone and set it up all by myself too. Anyhoo…July was special as we were happy to get out to see friends, get the whole family together for the girls’ birthday at our daughter’s house, and visited our other daughter and took a tour of our state’s capitol!
In August we enjoyed being outside as much as possible. I even weeded…yeah…I weeded. I wore a path in the yard to the Tea House where I spent many happy hours reading, listening to the birds, and watching the scoundrel rabbits.
In September, we prepared for ANOTHER thrift sale and finished up our guest room project. Oh, yeah, we also had COVID and recovered from it thanks to our prepared toolkit just in case we’d ever catch it. And, we celebrated our 33 wedding anniversary by watching people buy more of the stuff we parted with at the thrift sale. The holiday theme was a hit. After that final sale, we boxed up everything left and donated most of it, putting some stuff at the end of the driveway for free.
In October, our refrigerator started to fail, so we decided to get new appliances to finish off our kitchen remodel that we started back in 2019. I still feel sad about the old appliances. October was a crazy weather month. We had the earliest snow I remember ever getting on the 14th. The month ended warm enough to sit out on the deck and sit in the grass in the yard to connect with the vibes of the earth & the summer memories to love. The fog was insane and Mr. totaled the Durango that had to be repaired. I built a rock tower to keep the mice out of their entry near our wing wall. Our guest room was finally done and ready for November guests to arrive on Thanksgiving.
November was a fun-filled month, I turned 58 at the end of it and reconnected with a dear friend for coffee on my birthday. Since I wrote about November recently, I’ll just show you the last two photos on the SD card for that month.
With our extra guests in the house for Thanksgiving weekend and running lots of water, etc., we ended up with a blockage in our water pipes in the kitchen into December. Mr. successfully unblocked it. A few days later we discovered a leak under our sink, so he had to fix that too. We watched the farmer who finally harvested the corn field on 12/10.
Just days before the arrival of the heaviest & stickiest snow we’ve ever seen.
The coating on the trees finally melted this past week. The weather turned extra cold and blizzard-like after that, and our snow blower broke, so we had our doubts that we’d see our kids on Christmas. Mr. drove over the snow in the driveway multiple times to pack it down. The kids said they’d make it home for Christmas and with X-Mode and 4-wheel drive in their cars, they’d be able to make it onto the driveway to park in the garage. YAY!
While we waited for their arrival, we set out our snacks and tried a new recipe for cranberry relish (recommended in Janis’s story on 12/7/2022 over at her blog RetirementallyChallenged.com). We modified the recipe to be keto-friendly and had parmesan chips to eat it with. It turned out great.
It’s quiet in the house now, it’s always hard for me to shake the blues after all the hustle and bustle of togetherness is gone. I reflect a lot during this time of year. I may need to do another haircut as I did in October to give me something new to occupy my time.
I’m reading two new books and added two more with the arrival of Dan Antion’s book number 3 which arrived first, and Book 2 which arrived yesterday (head on over to his blog nofacilities.com for links to buy his books!). I’m set for books to read in January of 2023.
I’ll take down the decorations today to ring in the new year feeling all organized. I’ll hold on to the happy memories of us being together to get me through and onto whatever the new year has in store for us.
My favorite photo of the year is one I didn’t take, but it’s special nonetheless. It’s a candid shot of us opening our daughters’ gifts of “Best Mom and Dad Ever” cups. It’s nice to know they still feel that way about us.
And, last, but not least…here is the last photo that was taken in 2022.
I hope that you stuck around until the end of the post and that you learned something new that you didn’t know about us before. Thank you for being here as a follower of my little ol’ blog. Thank you too for being a part of our year in 2022. You’re very special to me and our family and we look forward to seeing you back here in 2023!
Post Inspiration: Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday: Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “new/knew.’” Use one, use both, use them any way you like. Bonus points if you use both. Enjoy! And, Terri Webster Schrandt’s Jan 1 Your 2022 Year-in-Review and Brian at Bushboy Last on The Card December 2022.
PS – What is your favorite activity to do on New Year’s Day? Did you like the mosaic tile photos or the slide shows better? And why? I’m curious to hear your thoughts. Did you do a year-in-review post? If so, leave a link in your comments, I’d love to see what you came up with. What books are you reading this month?
Happy New Year, Shelley! I believe posts like this are cathartic and work like a journal to help us remember anything that stuck out in our minds. I have so many photos, like you, (I use dropbox premium) and they remind me of events and times as the years go by. You really got serious in 2022 and chucked a LOT of stuff. I’m sorry about Mr Cooper, but I was heartened by reading that his things went to a lucky dog at the thrift store. I need to eventually do that with Aero’s things. I’ve been giving away some of his things to my neighbors little dogs. I love all your pics and glad you could combine some last on the cards with Sunday Stills. Congrats on 6 years of blogging!
Happy New Year, Terri! I agree, it was cathartic to put this together. I imagine your dropbox folders being full and fun to view. My hubby reminds me of the storage on our server needing to be a bit more selective on what is stored or not. He cringes when I tell him my SD card is full 🤣
I’m going to get more serious this year about purging more items, it’s time before we won’t want to do it and end up leaving it for our kids. I’ve been there done that with my mom’s belongings, it wasn’t a walk in the park.
Yes, Copper’s belongings found a new home. You’ll find the right time to part ways with Aero’s things. It took me almost a year before I was ready.
Thank you for the 5th year of Sunday Stills and it is such a fun and a welcoming place to participate along with other bloggers.
Great recap! You had a full year, that’s for sure. I love the family photos, and dad’s pink shoes – LOL. Thanks for sharing it all. Have a Happy and Healthy New Year!
Hi Janet, thank you for stopping by to check out the post. It’s great to hear from you.
Yes, his pink shoes are the talk of whatever event he wears them at. He drives a red Corvette and I bet he gets some looks when he’s at the gas station filling up the tank.
I hope you have a happy and healthy new year too!!!
Wow! This was a lot of work to put together! It makes me wonder what my year was really like, I’ve focused on the big, sad things, as I’ve been reminiscing these past few days. I bet I had some good times too. Maybe I should go look, after all, a blog is sort of a diary, right? So..between the mosaic and the slideshow. Well, I didn’t realize there WAS a slide show, so when you asked the question I went back. I do like that…but I think, in the end, since I didn’t even realize there was a slideshow, I like the tile mosaic the best. You had a very good and productive year. I was thinking I needed to spend 2023 cleaning out closets and the basement…now I see that you actually did it! Will I? The odds are slim but I could surprise everyone and me…so stay tuned. Happy New Year!
Hi and Happy New Year, Dawn! The post was more work than usual, except that with the Last on the Card you’re not supposed to edit the photos, so all I had to do was find the last one taken each month, and rename them. In retrospect…it did take quite awhile. Terri’s prompts are in advance so it’s fun to anticipate and prepare for the posts.
Yes, go look at your posts, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the moments of joy you did have. I would have a VERY hard time choosing favorite photos from your collection – you have so many great photos to choose from.
Thanks for the feedback on the mosaic versus the slideshow.
I’m still going to work on cleaning out stuff. With the long winters we have, it’s something to keep busy with. I’ll stay tuned to see if you start your cleanout too!
Thank you for stopping by and for checking out my post!
What a year you guys had! Great photos and time with family, perfect. The candid photo is really good, so genuine! Wishing you guys all the best this year. ☺️
Thank you, John, we’ve been grateful for you joining us via the blogosphere. I’m glad your comment worked this week too btw.
Aw, thank you, it’s fun to sometimes get a candid shot of both of us, I’m usually behind the camera.
We’re wishing you and your family all the best this year too!
Awww thank you, guys! I enjoy following you guys, maybe we shall meet some day! ☺️
You’re welcome! If you read Terri’s post today, she meets up with lots of blogging buddies, I think that is so cool. We would definitely let you know if we’re in the Vegas area. 😊
Happy New Year, Shelley. I loved the review of 2022 – congratulations on breaking that 100k barrier! I love that last photo across the snow. I remember most of the posts from 2022, but I enjoyed this. I hope 2023 is a wonderful year for you.
Happy New Year, Dan! I’m glad you enjoyed the review and that you recognized many of the moments we went through in 2022.
I’m looking forward to reading your 2nd & 3rd books in 2023. They both arrived in the mail this week, so I need to get busy reading them. 😉😊
I hope 2023 is a great year for you too!
I hope you enjoy them!
I’m sure I will, I enjoyed the first one!!!
I didn’t want the first thing that I said be how happy I’m am to see my two books here, then I forgot. Thank you so much for your support.
You’re welcome! I’m happy to support your efforts. Plus, writing 3 books is a BIG deal, so go ahead and brag on!!! 😁
Haha – Thanks!
What a lovely post, Shelley! Thank you for taking me through everything I’ve missed, not being around this year. The bird picture is so beautiful! Happy New Year to you and your family. 🙂
Thank you, Linda, I’m glad you had some moments to spare in the kick off of the new year to check out my post. You’re always welcome here, and I know how busy you are. I hope all is well with you!!
I love that little bird photo too…I purposely put it in this post so I could remember how I already shared it enough 😉
Happy New Year to you and your family too!!
Happy New Year! I didn’t write a Year In Review post because, honestly, I didn’t do much of anything besides another thousand or so blog posts. I’m curently reading Damyanti Biswas’s “The Blue Bar” (she’s a blog buddy, https://www.damyantiwrites.com/blog/) and Miranda Devine’s “Laptop From Hell”, as well as following the drama that’s unfolding on Twitter. I have parts 2 and 3 of Dan’s series on deck. I’m going to read more this year, I think, but haven’t done a formal resolution or anything…
Love the kitty pictures and the one of the pretty blue bird. I’ve never seen a bird that blue…
Happy New Year, John!! Yes, you definitely write more often than I could do at this point in my life.
I read Damyanti’s first book, I have her second one on my radar.
Ooo…is Miranda’s book good? It’s about time some news is being shared about that laptop. I’m not on Twitter, but I’ve seen many reposts of the drama that’s happening there.
I enjoy reading in the winter to keep my mind off of how cold it is outside and how I dread the treadmill. Mr. made me a new book holder so I could read my thicker books so my large pile of TBR books will keep me walking lots of miles. I’m hoping Dan’s new books fit on the treadmill too.
I’m glad you enjoyed the photos too. The male bluebird’s blue is so vivid. We look forward to their return every spring.
I’ve only started reading Miranda’s book, but it seems good so far. You can tell by the deafening silence that it hit a nerve, as did all that has been revealed on the Twitter files. There are plenty of people who think it’s all BS, and it might very well be, which is all the more reason that it should be investigated. The disheartening thing is, I don’t think it will be, or at best it’ll be partially investigated and a few minor players will lose their jobs and maybe spend some time in prison and/or pay a not-so-punitive fine.
What this has taught me is to never discount anything, and even the wildest theories should be looked into for any possible nuggets of truth. As far as I’m concerned, nothing should be discounted as misinformation or disinformation unless and until it can be disproved beyond a reasonable doubt. I also believe that if any of the allegations that the FBI, CIA, or NSA have colluded with social media companies, they should be dismantled and those responsible brought to justice. I am furious at even the suggestion that the government is lying to us.
And I’ll get off my soapbox so I don’t fall off it…
Yes, many nerves have been hit. As I’ve said, I’m not on Twitter, but I do see glimpses of the information that has been finally released. It’s unfortunate the deafness may be a choice on people’s parts – because we’ve collectively had enough of the focus on arguing and messaging, so we turn it off. That seems to be an opportunity to perpetuate the mis/disinformation campaigns we’ve endured for a long time. Hopefully, those that claim investigations will happen get the opportunity to actually do them – if it was little ol’ us or someone else that did these things, you know they’d be prosecuting in record time.
I appreciate reading your thoughts, John. It is infuriating to think that so much information has been kept from us for way too long and it could be our government orchestrating it all along.
Thanks for sharing your soapbox thoughts, you being genuine in sharing your thoughts without fear is refreshing to read. We’ll see what happens in 2023! 🤞🏻
I just love your “little ol’ blog”–and a big 6 years old now!–and value the friendship we’ve grown over the social media airwaves all these years! It’s such fun to get a glimpse, through your camera lens and others’, of your journey. What a year! (And I for one can never see that bluebird too many times!) I’m hoping for a bit more balance in my new year. More exercise for one thing. I am thankful that I have only about 6 more months of driving my boys to and from school everyday. 2023 will be the year I gain an hour and a half of my day back, and I’m so relieved! Now, to fill that time with worthy activities…
Hi and Happy New Year, Rebecca! I’m so thankful for our friendship we’ve grown over the years too!!
I’m glad you enjoy my blog and my photos. I enjoy reading your blog and am always impressed with how much reading and writing you get done. I really should do more audiobooks…but, to confess, I don’t know how to do them 🤔 Maybe I should learn how-to in 2023.
Getting more exercise and balance is always a good plan. You’re going to love the extra hour and a half to your day!! That’s a huge commitment of time that I have no doubts you’ll repurpose well. I look forward to reading the updates in 2023. 😍🤗🥰
That’s a great re-cap, Shelley! I still can’t believe the size of your thrift sale… it’s amazing what people find useful but I’m always happy to avoid sending anything to the dump. And, you can post that darling picture of the fat blue bird anytime you want 🙂
I’m thrilled that you tried the recipe and liked it! Thanks so much for letting me know and for posting a picture!
Oh, and I think I prefer mosaics in most cases. I like seeing all the pictures at once rather than scrolling through.
Happy 2023!
Happy New Year, Janis! The little bluebird is a hit for my 2022 photos. I need to frame it and hang it in my office.
Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed the recap and for providing your feedback on the picture format. I agree, I like it, although, it doesn’t let me reorder the pictures, guess the computer’s Jetpack supposedly knows best. 🤷🏻♀️
Yes, the recipe was a hit!! We’ll likely make it again next year too or before that. I hope it looked right in the photos. 🙂
PS – It was fun to see the pictures of you and Terri in her post – that’s so cool that you connected in person. in 2022!!!
Happy 2023 to you too!
Terri was the first blogger I met in person (probably back in 2015). My husband insisted on going with me “just in case” (I assume, just in case she turned out to be crazy 🙂 ) Now, he always want to go with me when I meet another blogger because he enjoys it so much!
Aw, WOW, that’s so cool, I’m so happy to read about how long you’ve been friends with Terri. It’s great that your husband enjoys the meetings too. 🥰😍😁
A wonderful wrap Shelley. Glad Mr Bluebird made a reappearance 😀 I admire your work at the “Great Wall of Mouse” but….well…..mouse. Plant some Peppermint or have some in among the rocks as a second wall of defense. I like slideshow as you see the whole photo whereas I tend to skim over galleries.
Have a fab new year Shelley 🤗❤️
Hi Brian, Happy New Year! It appears from comments that Mr Bluebird is the star of the photo show.
I’m glad you’re impressed with my wall, I like that title you came up with. I was seriously proud of myself. I saw the little rascal run into that corner and disappear, so I got to work right away building a blockade. I modified it once after that. I need to plant some Peppermint in the spring. Does that come back every year? I’ll need to do some research and maybe start it this winter in a pot?
Thanks for the feed back on the photo formats. I stumbled upon the mosaic block and gave it a try. If you click on one of the pictures on the mosaic, it does convert into a slideshow. I stumbled on that too. I wonder what else I don’t know about WP blocks to discover in 2023?
Happy New Year to you too – and I won’t wait until the end of the year to join in on your last photo on the card prompt! 🤗🥰
First of all, getting a post like this together had to be time consuming! …. so a tip of the cap for your efforts. A battle with rabbits? You definitely were the underdog. Research showed me that nobody bet on you winning. Nobody!!!! On the other hand, the cat pics were my favorites! Thanks for the wonderful family pics. Wishing you and yours the best for 2023!
Hi Frank, thank you for the tip of the cap. It was cathartic to put together, more so than I imagined it would be. It did however consume my alotting blogging time, more than usual. 🤣
Yes, I fear the little rabbits will be up for the fights again this year. I may need to try different strategies and off the ground garden beds. Although, I’ve seen them stand on their hind legs and jump into areas above them. One even looked like he was going to jump into a tea house window.
Glad you enjoyed the photos – I appreciate hearing which ones you enjoyed most.
Thank you, I wish you and yours the best in 2023 too!!
PS – I enjoyed your post for the New Year too – order and disorder, YEP, I got that going on this weekend 🙂
I love all of these photos and a wonderful year . Have a wonderful New Year. Let’s follow our blogs. Thanks Anita
Hi Anita, thank you for stopping by and viewing my photos. I appreciate your feedback and follow – your post for 1/1/2023 was great, I love your photos too and the ones with your smiles made me smile too!
Thanks Shelly .And I love finding your site. Thanks Anita
Shelley – what a year for you! Congrats on year #6 of your blog. I will have a blogiversary next month (10).
I like the slideshows best.
My favorite photo was the Bluebird, a bird I have never seen and your frog was a close second. I liked the photo of the six of you – very nice and I liked it even more than the Christmas card you showed us a few weeks ago. I also like the impromptu shot with the coffee cups too.
I did a kind of recap post, but intended that really just to reflect my walking miles, but since two bloggers teased me about my low car mileage from a January post, this recap morphed a wee bit to show them what I accomplished. For several years, at year end, I always included my on-foot miles versus car miles until my e-mail subscriber/friend Terry said “you sound like a little old lady with the car miles Linda!” So I stopped, but I added the part about the car miles comments from Ruth and JP anyway as it was funny (and besides Terry’s gone now). Since the weather was so erratic and my issues with the weather the last quarter of the year were worth mentioning, I included those too, but I omitted my fear about the generator explosion … that was very real to me and scary as heck as we have way too many natural gas explosions around here. I’ll be doing a recap of favorite photos like I did last year including my checked-off items from last year’s Birdie Bucket List next week. I had a lot of new birds this year.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, Linda, I’m thankful you stopped by to share your thoughts. You’ve been a faithful follower so I’m glad you endured seeing the recap of what you’ve no doubt seen/knew about before.
The bluebird is the star of the photos…Tizzie and Dessy are a tad jealous. They will be featured soon as our new bird feeder on our patio door has attracted many new bird friends for the cats to watch. Even one of the Pileated Woodpeckers visited and scared the heck out of Tizzie! I look forward to a summer when I’m not consumed with thrift sale prep and get more outside time with my camera.
Your 2022 was scary and challenging, I’m hoping that 2023 is less stressful for you! We were talking about generators yesterday…the one we have will work as long as we can get fuel for it, if that isn’t the case, it won’t do us much good. 🙄
I look forward to seeing your Birdie Bucket recap, you did get to see many fun new birds to you this past year!!
Happy New Year to you too!!!
Nope, did have to endure it Shelley – it was nice to see what happened this year and to remember I offered tips that didn’t work with the flower-munching rabbits. This year’s tip is to go silk which is what I do for the front/side of the house. No weeding/deadheading/watering/fertilizing and no one chomps on them.
That Bluebird was the star of the show – well, beautiful colors make it a knockout. But a Pileated Woodpecker will be pretty snazzy looking too in your photos since you will have more time. I like the woodpeckers at the Park – just a few but they hop on over for treats!
The portable generator would have worked for me, but you need to plug the cord and leave the door open to accommodate the cord and I didn’t like that idea … you have a man in the house and likely since you are in a rural area, are in a safer place than me.
I should have gone through my posts to get Birdie Bucket photos instead of wading through July photos today, all the while wondering why I took three or four photos of everything (on Automatic yet). SMH.
I liked your tips for the flowers, they seemed to work at first, but the rabbits are more clever than I thought or maybe the deer were helping them munch down the flowers. I think little Copper’s scents worked magical powers that I didn’t know he had.
The Pileated Woodpecker looks prehistoric to us when it lands. We’re going to get a small fog horn to blow at it when it lands on our cedar trim on the house. The whole house sounds like a hammer is being pounded on the roof when they land on it and peck away.
We may be in a safer area, but there have been thefts nearby so it’s not that safe. Is there any place that is nowadays? I remember when we first moved in and didn’t lock our doors…30+ years ago and now we lock them while we’re home all day.
Aw, the Birdie Bucket photos will find their way to a delightful post! My camera isn’t on automatic, I just take that many photos too!!
If there was a way to “scent” the area where the flowers are but it would wash away. I hope you can come up with some ideas. Do you have any master gardeners in your area that you might ask. We used to have a gardening show every Saturday but the radio station retooled their line-up and gave the guy the boot. He had been a fixture there for years from April through October and I called him a few times as well. Yes, for sure do something to stop the woodpecker from demolishing your cedar trim. I hear them in the neighborhood sometimes when it is quiet and the woodpecker at the Park decimated a tree, but that is a Red-Bellied Woodpecker.
I hate that the crime is increasing and reading about it in the Facebook Neighborhood Forum. I’ll be compiling it this weekend – if I shot on manual, I’d be switching back and forth from automatic to manual and would have even more photos to go through!
We do have a gardening club nearby. They meet at the park you said you liked seeing pictures of. That’s a good idea. I’m thinking that I’ll plant flowers that spread and that the rabbits don’t seem to like.
The woodpeckers are a pain this year. It’s so bizarre that we live next to trees and a woods across the yard, yet, they find our cedar planks to peck holes in. Ugh.
I was thinking about you and your duplicate photos when I was tempted to switch my camera to continuous mode to capture some birds in action. I’d have a hard time choosing which photo to use!
Oh well, that’s part of the fun of why we take photos, right?
A master gardener could give you ideas maybe? I just searched for that radio host but nothing more recent than 2016 when they got a new program director and changed direction. I used to listen to a computer show just after his show. He/wife are retired and bought a lighthouse in Scotland and live there for a few months every year.
I think when I see something I really like, especially if it’s windy, I might have moved or jiggled the camera, so I take a few more, but sometimes it is ridiculous. That’s crazy with the woodpeckers with other wood opportunities and they just started doing it this year? I have the stupid Robin that builds a nest in the elbow of my coach light every Spring, so I have to put a box in the elbow from April through August … I don’t want a dirty nest in the light over my mailbox. The box in the elbow of the lamp is NOT a good look. The handyman said he’d put up netting – I said “no – they’ll get their toenails caught in it and get tangled up in it – no, I don’t want to do that.” He looked at me like “well suit yourself – it’s that or the box.”
I’ll keep the gardener idea in my back pocket for the spring.
Oh…Robins can be a pain. My brother found a solution that works, if you have room for it, he places a plastic bottle filled with water on the surface that blocks the Robins from building a nest. Free and cheap solution that works like a charm for him. 🤷🏻♀️
I could use it empty as filled might be too heavy, but that is a good idea Shelley and a liter bottle would be the right size and translucent. I use V-8 juice and that might be the perfect size and it’s a round bottle. Robins can build those nests in one day, mud-packed nests which are not easy to take down once they’ve plastered mud all over the elbow of the light. The handyman offered to put a flat light there like he did at the side door (the Robins LOVED the side door as there is an awning over top of the door, so nice and cozy and dry to build a nest and raise their young’uns. I didn’t care about that light as no one sees it under the awning and it is connected to my side sensor light. But I like the light out front … thank you for the tip!
Yes, they can build nests so fast! We’ve been lucky that they don’t seem to like our house, just the trees next to the house. Early on we had one obnoxious one that continued to see it’s reflection in the window and jump at it NON-STOP. We were glad when it moved on. I think the cats by the windows might deter the robins.
I hope the bottle technique works for you.
I am certainly going to try it for sure and probably will be able to shove the bottle right in without looping it onto the light (always a look right out of “House Beautiful”! I put a box into a bag and tied the handle loop of the bag onto the light.
It’s a competition for you between which house looks better, the muddy Robins nest or the creative bag/bottle look. I’m voting for the bag/bottle look for sure!
Oh ya, the muddy nest has to go and some people have said to me “but you like birds and you’d destroy a nest?” Yes, they can build it anywhere else, but the mud and poop drips – just no! They moved to the side of the house where there is a big pyracantha bush. I didn’t see the nest, nor babies, but when I walked by in front of the house, I’d see them flitting in and out of the bush. I have sparrows that build nests in the rolling blind and had the handyman put a screen over it, but it is in the bathroom window blind which is where the pyracantha bush is and he can’t get close. So sparrows and their young chirping every mid-May. That’s fine, I don’t open the blind but the front looks bad.
I agree with you on the messy birds for sure! I think that I’ll be feeling like attracting birds toward the house was a bad idea come spring when I can see the mess that they’ve left behind. Until then, I’ll just take pictures of the cute birds as the cats watch them.
I think your friend gave you a nice present Shelley and the cute birds and cats watching them are a great diversion from Winter. Does your deck have solid flooring, or does it fall under the deck through slits? The deer tongues are lapping up the excess. 🙂
We’re seeing the snow melt and the mess left behind………………… 🙄😏🤔 The rabbits and mice are likely getting the scraps that fall to the ground. But the 💩💩💩💩💩💩💩 is looking not so nice. We’re going to enjoy the feeder until Spring when the birds can find more food elsewhere. It might just be a winter feeder. 😉
You could always attach the feeder to the tea house if the rabbits/mice issues get too bad. Of course, that means you or Mister have to have a path to go all the way to the tea house in the snow and cold – hmm.
Hmm is right, we’re thinking this window feeder is going to be a winter only thing, I don’t want the birds on the deck where I sit all summer long. 🤔😉
That does make sense and they’ll be foraging in good weather.
😍
Great update. I try to yearly go through things and evaluate keeping or donating/tossing. I chuckled at your TP rolls and other things that I know my upcycling/salvaging friend would drool at. Here’s to a great 2023
Hi Kirstin, thanks for stopping by and for sharing your thoughts! I’m going to try and stay on top of things to discard, including those fun upcycling/salvaging things that I never seem to get around to using. I was tickled pink to find people who would use them. It was fun watching people buy bags and jugs of the treasures I had saved over the decades. I admire people who actually get around to doing something with those things!
Cheers to a great 2023 to you and yours!
I’ve never done a year in review post figuring no one would care. Yours is lovely, so maybe I’m missing the boat on that idea. I’ve also never tried to join into multiple blog prompts/challenges in one post. Is that a thing now? I’m usually behind the times. As for mosaic tile photos or the slide shows? Mosaic tile photos or just one photo even. I don’t swipe well, just show me the picture.
Hi Ally, welcome back from your blogging break! I enjoyed your post about your rejections for 2023 – very clever way to jump back into blogging for 2023. 😍
The jury in my head is still out as to if I’d do a year recap post like this one again or not. 🤔😉
I’m not the place to find what’s a thing now or not, I just fumble my blogging way here and there randomly. I do enjoy Linda and Terri’s blogs and prompts – I’m never without an idea to write about thanks to them.
I’ve enjoyed the feedback about photos. I’ve been doing the slideshow for quite a while, years, really, so it’ll be a default go-to for me when one picture doesn’t fit my thoughts for the day. Old habits are hard to break. I did have fun with the mosaic though, and the photos can still be scrolled through for anyone interested in seeing them in a different view. Kind of a win-win then, I guess. 🙂