Odds and ends for January

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Here is a flock that came for a water orgy earlier in the day. I had to fill the bird bath three times. All the activity splashed the water out.

We’ve had really cold weather. REALLY COLD! (Yes, I know. All the eastern US bloggers have been whining for weeks. It’s been zapping our creativity.) We had a break this week. The break brought a cloud of robins to de-berry my holly plants. There is no other word to describe 100 birds flying together. It happens every year. I love to watch it. The cats love it too. Gracie (youngest cat) almost got a concussion from head bonks into the window trying to “help” them. My plants were de-berried in less than a half hour! Then they pooped red berry poop in the bird bath. As a courtesy they got rid of the remaining crab apples too. Gotta love the birds.

Here is a close up. This was the first flock that flew in. Not sure if they are robins too (can’t see an orange belly) but you can clearly see the berry poop in the bird bath.

I was awakened by a bright light at 5:30 a.m. the other morning. I wasn’t sure if it was St. Peter at the pearly gates (assuming that’s where I’d go) or a lightning storm in the bedroom. (I was going to suggest a zombie apocalypse but that is sort of far-fetched.) It was the beloved husband using a flashlight to go to the bathroom. He heard a cat barf during the night and didn’t want to take the chance of stepping in it. I heard it too. If you’ve ever heard a cat gag you don’t forget it especially if you are barefoot. I knew exactly who it was and where it happened. It’s never dull in a house with a bunch of pets. Any pets.

Unscented products are the “in” thing. Scent isn’t good for you. It’s made of chemicals and all that. Causes skin rot, toe jam, swamp ass or something equally gross. My problem is that I have a great nose. I love good smells. I like the fresh smell of a shower and a soft smell when you lather skin lotion all over. I can remember the smell of Jergen’s lotion from my youth. I bought a new body lotion recently and it’s unscented. Smells like a cross between wet grass and wet dog. I’m going back to the good smelling stuff.

How about you? Any odd thoughts to add?

 

 

95 thoughts on “Odds and ends for January”

  2. We had quite a week ourselves, Kate. Soon as I can find the time I’ll post about the plumbing emergency we encountered when the rain (the same rain that caused all the horrible mudslides in Montecito) combined with Darwin’s burrowing costing us about $500–as I said, “Quite a week!”

    I would have been fascinated to see the Robins swoop in! Nature is amazing!

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  3. I can relate to the cold snap because I’m from New York! All my friends from University are keeping warm at home but my family and I have to get up early to shovel the snow, warm up our cars and drudge off to work!

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  7. I had to de-scent years ago. Not because of any skin condition but because I was followed by bees everywhere I went! Something about my metabolism attracts bugs… I have plenty of horror stories. Once a bee followed me all the way from the beach, across the street and INTO a restaurant where my friend and I tried to take refuge. It buzzed around the table the whole time we were there. Fortunately, it didn’t follow us out of the restaurant… I guess it decided it had found nirvana with all the smells!

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  8. I’m so jealous of all of your birds. Even with the red poop (and really, red poop is nicer than brown poop). We only have the few hearty birds left here for the winter who somehow survive (I hope) the sub zero temps and snow we’ve been getting – yes, I’m whining a bit. The cardinals are so red against the snow, but no red poop. We keep the birdfeeders full every day, as well as hearty protein suet to keep them going.
    I’m going to get a birdbath once our temps reach a civilized level – April?
    Do the berry bushes grow more berries, once they’ve been all eaten up?
    Hope you are having a berry good day. xo

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    • You can get a heated birdbath. I haven’t found it costly to run electricity wise. Suet is good. We always have a suet feeder going during the winter and early spring. When the berries are gone, that’s it for the year. They will blossom again in the spring and develop berries over the summer.

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    • I have almond vanilla liquid bath soap and I love it. It’s doesn’t hang around but I feel so good coming out of the shower. We love the birds…and squirrels and everything else including the raccoons.

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  10. I’m with you, I love good smells–lavender, citrus, peach, lilac, rose. If the scents are natural, all the better.

    The birds are cute, but they don’t look like any robins I’ve ever seen.

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    • The pictures aren’t robins. They are starlings. They came through first in a large flock. They ate some berries but not all. The robins came through an hour later. I couldn’t catch them frolicking in the birdbath and the shots of them in the holly bushes didn’t turn out well. The robins will also come in large groups in the bird bath. There is water splashing all over but they seem to have fun.

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  11. Snorts and rolls with piggy laughter. Mom says that if you want to guarantee to see a cat gag, put fresh sheets on the bed. Shaking my head. It never fails with Hemi. And as for cold – YES it is awful outside. It shouldn’t be this cold in the south. I’m just snortin’ XOXO – Bacon

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    • She did. Three of them were lined up at the sliding doors but only Gracie get bonking the glass. When she was young Hazel did that a lot. We had a bird feeder suctioned outside a window so they could watch and we had to take it down for fear of brain damage! (or a broken window!)

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  15. We haven’t been graced with any cat vomit yet. I’m not looking forward to that spectacle. We made it back to 70 here yesterday, but then it “plummeted” to 62 today with rain. Friends are visiting from DC this weekend, and I had hoped it would be “warm” for them, but it’s headed down to the 50’s. I hope they’re still happy. – Marty

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  19. Today is our calm before the storm. Seagulls are circling the house. How do they know to come the hundred miles inland for safety? A like question. How did all those birds zero in on your berry buffet. Amazing little creatures. (…and no one is talking me out of ANYTHING that smells good. 😉)

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  21. What a great bunch of birds, and I’m so glad you give them water–I do too, even if I have to put in hot kettle water a few times a day. I have a keen sense of smell and do my best with avoiding the harsh ‘modern’ toiletries. To me different smells evoke different time periods, so this rubbishy modern aggressive-feeling stuff turns me off–everyone has different preferences of course.

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  22. I miss wearing scents — the kind that were accents and not perfume bombs. Last year I bought a bottle of Jergens lotion to remind me of my mother. That’s the only brand she used for hand lotion. I’m with you on scent-less products. Senseless, I say.

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  23. Yeah, done the unscented thing, too. Prefer scents. I haven’t had a bird sighting here in months, well, except for squawks from gaggles and flocks of geese. I don’t have any bird baths or houses. Perhaps I should. I can understand why they ate up your remaining berries, not much food out there. We got a break from the freeze this week too, but I’m hearing we’re headed for another bout of freezing hell.

    I wanted to give a snappy comeback to your funny St. Peter and Zombie apocalypse comment, but I couldn’t match your wit today. 😉

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  27. I’m not big on perfumes or colognes but my husband makes up for it. He LOVES his special brands and that makes for easy Christmas gift giving. When I was growing up there was a house up the street from us that had red berries on it and the birds would eat them and then get “drunk” or “high” and fly straight into our living room window. We’d hear a thud and sure enough there would be a dead bird on the front porch.

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  28. B-vitamins are so icky smelling, and leave an after taste, I have to force myself to take them. Ick.

    I get annoyed when people wear too much perfume, so much so that they leave a trail. And if by chance someone in their vicinity starts to sneeze, especially a kid, it’s the off-smelling person that gives you a dirty look.

    I like very faint smells or no smells, especially in lotions.
    🙂

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    • Definitely faint smells. (I think people wear heavy perfume to mask bad hygiene!) I don’t care if people can’t smell it. I love to smell it coming out of the shower. I worked with a guy who used cologne. It was quite the topic of discussion at work. I could track him down by the after smell he left when he was in a room.

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  30. Hi Kate: Haven’t used perfume for years, though I do like my fruit based shampoos or shower gels, and a nice jasmine or vanilla air freshner for the house.
    Your birds look much like our starlings, quite a bit bigger than robins and have dark feathered speckled with yellow dots. They tend to ‘screech’ rather than chirp so are quite noisy. Great flocks make those wonderful patterns in the sky.

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  31. I can TOTALLY relate to the cat barf in the dark in the middle of the night! ‘Nuf said.

    During the cold snap, an owl attacked our living room windows again and again late at night. Owls are BIG, so it was loud and shook the windows. I poked my head out to see what was happening, and the owl came after me. (Scared the bejeebers out of me!) Cold weather? Ill bird? The apocalypse?

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  35. While I love a man wearing a manly scent like Polo, my husband tells me he is allergic to everything and every scent seems to bother him. So, he is scentless. Now, when I try to use perfume I get so much criticism that it just isn’t worth it. I love cooking smells! Make a pot roast, cook a turkey, yum…him, he closes the bedroom door so the smell doesn’t invade his space. No words!

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  36. I found myself actually counting the months until guaranteed warm weather (and for us, a major reduction in rain). Sorta goes against my NY’s resolution to live life to the fullest each moment…..and it’s not even mid-January!

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  37. it’s cold here too (a little fresh for canadians and polar bears). the weather guys said it is the coldest month since the invention of the potato… they are always wrong, but not this time… sigh…
    I’m with you for the good smells…. and we can mix our bodylotions, I have a “natural” one what smells like wet sheeps wool… ewwwww…..

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