March Blahs

Much to my delight looking up the word blah on Google brought me these definitions:

- nonsense, malaise and as an adjective - insipid, dull and uninteresting.

That pretty much sums up this month so far.  It's too late to enjoy winter and too early to enjoy spring.  We need a mid season term.

That mood led me to do this poster.  I need one on my bedroom wall as the first thing I see in the morning:

and maybe one to take with me when I go out

But I'm thinking what I really need to do is Motivate and Encourage myself with this one.

So I hope you are not suffering the March Blahs too!

Perfect Moment

I pass this spot about once a week and as I came up over the mountain, I realized that I would be able to see the distant Monashee Mountains.

Usually they are behind cloud or fog and by the time the valley clears in the spring, the snow has melted off the tops and they're not so visible. 
As I turned the corner, I made a quick decision to pull off the road and capture their beauty.

Everything was perfect even the evening light touching the tops.

How Do You Look?

This is my happy face! by countrymousestudio

It's been a hectic couple weeks but one thing kept popping up.   I came across a blog by a woman who said that when she was doing nothing in particular like shopping, her resting or neutral face looked angry or upset and people were always asking her if she was okay.

I couldn't believe the number of people who commented saying they had the same problem.  Then I remembered a tv show I'd seen years ago on the same topic.  The host asked people if they were aware of the type of look that was on their face when they were resting and not thinking about anything in particular.
I mentioned it to my daughter and she said her boyfriend had complained about the same problem.

  Apparently all his life, people have thought he was upset or angry when he wasn't at all.  It was just his facial expression when resting.   He said it often made him seem confrontational and it made strangers  defensive as if waiting for him to explode about something that bothered him.  Over the years, he's become self conscious about it and always wonders what expression is on his face before he goes in to meet someone for the first time.

I hadn't thought about it before, do you know anyone with the problem?

I'm not sad or grumpy this is how I look Owl by countrymousestudio

Funny, Smile for the Camera, Grumpy Owl by countrymousestudio
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Red Squirrels - Neighbors from Hell

Red Squirrel Watercolor Acrylic Sculpture by countrymousestudio

A while ago, Ratty's blog Everyday Adventurer did a feature on Red Squirrels which reminded me of what difficult neighbors they are.
We moved from a very busy urban life to a cabin along a lake to find some peace and quiet.   We didn't know that a Red Squirrel already lived there.  I was used to them chattering at me when I went for a walk in the forest but knew little else of them or I might have changed my mind.

From the moment spring arrived, the squirrel was present and first light, each morning until sunset at night, everything that moved caused it to chatter angrily.  If you went outside, it chattered as loud as it could until you gave up and went back in.

I was determined to live peacefully with the annoying little thing until I put up my first bird feeder.  The previous owners had attached the feeder to the clothes line strung across middle of the yard.  Turns out  this squirrel would take flying leaps off the roof or tree branches until it could land on the feeder.  I spent weeks trying to find the exact spot to move this feeder where it couldn't reach.
There was a small 2 foot area it could be hung in that the squirrel couldn't reach but sometimes the wind would blow it out of that safe area.  The other problem was if it couldn't reach it, the squirrel just chattered more and more.  When it did reach the feeder, it would sit on the roof  chattering and attacking any bird that attempted to land. So to resolve the situation, I'd move the feeder so the squirrel could eat, then would refill it and move it away so the birds could eat.

Later, I foolishly planted a garden, which it also claimed.  It ate anything that grew above ground.  I never got a single pea, bean or strawberry.

It did give me two  very special memories though:
1. The neighbor boy discovered her nest full of babies in his attic and brought one over for me to pet before replacing them..  We noticed they were full of fleas (maybe that's why they were so irritable)
2.In the fall, it picked mushrooms and hung them on the tree branches to dry before storing them. At first, I thought my husband had done it as a joke but we watched and when the mushrooms dried, the squirrel gathered them all.
I never knew any animal did that.

For some beautiful photos of Red Squirrels go to Ginny's Blog 

Just found a site that sells squirrel proof bird feeders http://bromebirdcare.com/

Cute Squirrel & Tracks , Watercolor Animal Nature by countrymousestudio
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Watercolor Cute Red Squirrel Animal Nature by countrymousestudio
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Cute Squirrel & Tracks , Watercolor Animal Nature by countrymousestudio
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Watercolor Red Squirrel and Tracks Animal  countrymousestudio
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Smile for the Day

 

Raven

There has been a lot of articles lately written on crows and ravens but when I saw this video from Russia  I just had to share it.

It's only 57 seconds long

http://youtu.be/3dWw9GLcOeA

After the Storm

I don't normally take photos of the sky as my camera isn't great but we had a storm front pass through dropping snow and when it passed, we got about a half hour of clear skies before the next front came through.

I put the two photos together

It was much more impressive in real life

Fluffy white between trees is next storm front moving down the valley

The snow is supposed to come tonight so we'll see how much more we get.