Harbingers of Spring
For the last three weekends, I have seen goldfinches around the feeder. I fill up the "junk bird"¹ feeder when the finch food —nyjer seed— gets low. Otherwise, the junk birds will eat a large bag of food each day. Today, I spotted house finches trying desperately to get to the nyjer seed. If one of them is smart or talented enough to hang upside-down s/he will have a major meal all to her/him self.
Before the goldfinches arrived, a couple of robins were spotted leapfrogging their way around one of the Tingley elms.
In other news, Roomie and I spent the day yesterday pruning some major and minor limbs off the pear and apple trees. For bonus points, I hacked off a couple of low-lying branches from the large Tingley elm at the northwest corner of Troy's. The elm branches had been annoying me for a couple of years, and now there is significantly more light in that corner of the yard. Also, I may not have so many branches hit me in the face whilst mowing there.
Other harbingers of spring are the tulip, daffodils, and garlic sprouts coming up around the roses. This prompts us to begin watering around the roses.
¹ Junk birds are anonymous little brown birds such as mourning doves, house sparrows, and house finches.
