Goodbye to 2011

It's new years eve, so I decided I would spend some time in the shed to get the last shots of 2011.
We bought the squirrels some chestnuts as a treat, some apples and pears for the birds.
I was pleased to see the Long Tailed Tit's in the garden it has been quite a while since they have been around. The garden in general is very quiet, maybe the sparrowhawk is about! The weather recently has not been good hunting weather for him so he must be hungry, and he seems to like feeding in the garden.
Squirrel seems skittish today she came for a look but didn't even come down the fence into the garden. I know she will be back later the food is too good to miss. The dunnock's are calling to each other across the garden, one sits on the fence at each side of the garden and they call before they venture down for the food. The starling continue to fight over the food no matter how much is put out. The sparrows hide in the few bushes that are left after the neighbours cut theirs down, (this made it easier for the cats to catch the birds unfortunately.)
The female great spotted woodpecker is calling in most days now, I haven't seen the juvenile for a while maybe he has moved on,the grey wagtail has not been for a couple of days either but that could just be because of the bad weather.
Well the light is going so the photography is over for now the year is almost over so its goodbye to 2011.

I wish everyone health wealth and happiness for 2012.

The weather is just too cold for the shed...

I haven't been down to the shed again the weather has kept me indoors. The rain, wind and cold does not help with my aches and pains.
So I have been keeping myself busy rearranging my bedroom. Tony buys me cards for my birthdays that have comical animal pictures on rather than traditional cards, I have put them into a frame and hung them on the wall as the cards increase I will fill another frame to hang on another wall.
I have also been going through my many photos I have on disc and hard drive to choose which ones to print and put in albums to give to friends that have asked for them. This is going to take a while as I have hundreds of photos to look through, at least it will keep me busy till the weather gets better.

The squirrel is still coming into the garden for her daily feed, today I think there were two squirrels called. Tony shouted to me to look to see if I thought it was a different squirrel as it looked smaller than usual. I had to agree after looking that not only was it smaller but the markings were different.
The grey wagtail is a daily visitor at the moment, the wren is seen more often, the robins are back daily, even the blackbirds are calling in and best of all no more poorly collar doves.

A peaceful time in the shed

I am happy to say that there are no more deaths to report in the garden.
I spent a peaceful couple of hours in the shed in which time I managed a few photographs of the female woodpecker and a group of goldfinches.
As my luck usually goes after I went back into the flat I looked out of the bedroom window, at the bottom of the garden there was the sparrowhawk eating a starling. As usual it was too far away for either Tony or me to get a photo. The sparrowhawk is coming more often and killing in the garden on a more regular basis so between us it will happen, when it does I will let you know which flickr site to look on.
For now here are some goldfinches and woodpeckers for you to look at.

Happy Christmas

This morning Tony and I took Christmas presents to my grandchildren. My grandson likes Toy story so following my daughters suggestions I bought him a Jessie doll. His reaction was amazing, you would have thought I had bought him the world. My grand daughter gave a much cooler reaction to her gift but she is 9 going on 19yrs old.
We called to see my Mum as well, we spent a while chatting and had a laugh about the present she bought Tony (a bah humbug mug), Trevor was out with the dog but I did notice his present from my daughter was sitting in full view on the radiator. Trevor likes the meerkat adverts so she  bought him a meerkat in a Santa suit (I think Happy (the dog) will own it before too long).

Now on a sad note I had to remove 2 more bodies from the garden this morning, the 2 Collar Doves from yesterday didn't make it. I haven't seen any more sick looking birds today so fingers crossed tomorrow I will not have any bodies to remove.

Tony has been busy today making a chindian buffet, (chinese / indian) we decided against the traditional Christmas food, neither of us really celebrate Christmas, so we thought something different would suit us better.
So the menu so far has been

Prawn  Toast
Spring Rolls
Samosas
spicy Pork in sauce  with pancakes and onions
Later we will be having

Rogan Josh with rice
Christmas Pudding with cream spiced with Brandy.

Then I think we will both be falling asleep in front of the television.
So all that's left to say is Happy Christmas or Bah Humbug!

An unhappy few days in the garden.

We have had an unhappy few days in the garden. It began with the sighting of a Collar Dove looking unwell. It was all fluffed up head down looking very unhappy. The Dove sat close to a tray of seed tried to eat but gave it up and moved over to the side of the garden by the fence. I said to Tony I didn't think the Dove would survive the day. Sure enough within a couple of hours the Dove died.
You can imagine my horror when this morning we spotted 2 more Collar Doves that looked unwell.
I have a feeling of dread of what tomorrow is going to bring.

Christmas shopping, cold weather and a quiet garden.

I don't like crowded places, filled with strangers, all talking at once, it brings on panic attacks, so christmas shopping is my idea of hell.
At this time of year I prefer to stay home, spending time in the garden watching the birds and squirrels, maybe taking a few photographs. enjoying the peace and quiet. The only problem with this is...

There are no birds in the garden, no squirrels either. Next doors cat is spending a lot of time in our garden, we try to dissuade it but it keeps coming back. Somehow we have to find a way, we have tried a few things, chasing it, shouting, orange peel,(apparently cats don't like the smell) aniseed balls, mint imperials, but the cat still keeps coming. Then there is the sparrowhawk
only now there are two. We think one is a juvenile still hunting with an adult.
Whatever the garden is pretty empty for photographing at the moment. As well as that it is so cold, I cannot stay out in the shed too long or I ache so much I cannot move for the next day or so.
At least the school over the wall at the bottom of the garden has broken up for the christmas holidays now so I may be able to take some photo's from the bedroom or kitchen windows.

Tony is still doing well at the moment although he has had a couple of bad days when he has suffered with pain in his back. He doesn't complain much but you can tell by his face that the pain is sometimes worse than he says.

The son informed me the other day he has been successful in an interview and will be changing jobs in January, at least that means his hours will not be as long so he will be safer traveling to and from work. He might even use public transport instead of the scooter when the weather is bad, (a mothers mind at rest.)

Singing carols in Trinity Walk

Today Tony and I went to watch my granddaughter singing christmas carols in Trinity Walk shopping centre in Wakefield. This is surprising as she is usually too shy to join in with any thing that will put her in the public eye. She did very well we even got a smile from her.

 Even more surprising both her mum and dad came to watch and listen. They both smiled as well, the wonders of christmas!

Tony has finally received a date for his MRi January 15th 2012 which is a sunday, yes a sunday. The NHS  must be trying to catch up with the back log of patients on the waiting lists before the government make more redundancies and make the hard working medical staffs jobs even harder. (just my opinion of course)

Bad backs and Scooters.

This week has been a very slow week for photographs and outings.
 Tony's back has improved slightly this week which is a good thing. I hope this is and a permanent thing and that it continues to improve.
I have been suffering slightly and have bought some mittens, advised by my mum that they are warmer than gloves. I have worn the mittens outside and inside, I have to admit mum is right the mittens win out over the gloves. So thanks mum.
Christopher my son bought a scooter when he began his new job. Public transport did not fit in with his hours. He rang me at 7:45am the other morning to tell me he had come off his bike on his way to work. All sorts went through my head as you can imagine. "Are you OK? " I asked " Yeah and the bikes fine." I didn't care about the bike that could be a mangled mess for all I cared it was him I was bothered about!
"Have you been checked over ? have you been to the hospital?" The answer I got " no mum I'm fine the bikes fine stop fussing" What could I say? He might be 30years old but to me he's still one of my babies I am allowed to fuss, aren't I ?