Busy Day: Work, Chickadees, Quiche, and Hay Delivery

It was a busy Monday.  Marc went back to work after having taken his vacation week last week, and my work task list has picked up a few items lately, so I was ready for a busy day.  I started about 9 am and ended my work day with a one-hour conference call at 7 pm.  The good thing about working from home is that I'm able to take breaks during my day to do other things, and I can take breaks according to the time I have available - not limited to a 15-minute break imposed by an employer!

Today I took a break to feed the chickadees, as I usually do.  They were very active today, and I had them eating seeds from my hand, but the "line-up" of waiting birds was taking advantage of all available space, including waiting spots along my arm, on the top of my head, and even on the top of my camera lens.  Unfortunately I can't take pictures of this phenomenon - someone else would have to take the picture of me with birds on my head and arm! When I ran out of seeds, one kept coming back and gripping the front of my sweater and pecking one of my buttons.  Persistent little birds!   Here are a few shots of the chickadees today.

They gave up when I ran out of seeds and reverted to pinecones.

I do love my little feathered friends.

I needed something quick for supper, so I made a variation on the quiche recipe I found at the Broken Teepee blog.  I had done a smoked picnic ham in the slow cooker last week and there were still a few leftovers, so I thought it would be a good recipe to try.  I would like to try the crust recipe from the Broken Teepee blog too sometime, but with my busy day, I opted to use a frozen pie shell.  I pre-baked that, and then cut up some ham.  I don't have fresh corn, but I do have nice frozen corn niblets, so I ran those under hot water for a couple of minutes and used that instead.  I decided to add a few sliced cherry tomatoes.

Quiche recipes are usually fairly flexible and forgiving, so the tomatoes seemed like a good addition. I didn't have cheddar cheese, but I had a blend of edam and mozzarella, so I used that, and poured on the eggs and milk mixture.

I baked it at 375F for 40 minutes.

It came out very nicely and I enjoyed a slice of it before my conference call.  It was very tasty. The sweetness of the corn paired well with the smoky ham, and the tomatoes added extra vitamins!


Just after my piece of quiche and just before my conference call, I had 10 bales of hay delivered.  The goats and sheep really love the hay that I'm getting locally.  It's hay taken off the Tantramar Marsh area and has a great variety of grasses, clover, and other plants as well.  Goats and sheep aren't as finicky as horses when it comes to their hay, but I'm glad my gang really like this stuff!

They still like to eat bark, too.  Crazy critters!

Recent Water Bird Sightings

I've been spending a lot of time at the Sackville Waterfowl Park.  It's a beautiful setting and a great place for me to get some exercise, but it also affords some great opportunities for photographs.  From the name of the park, you can tell that it's popular with water birds.  These are bird species that I don't see in my own yard, so I really enjoy having a place to go and observe them.

The belted kingfisher was an exciting bird for me - not something I see very often.  This is a female, as evidenced by the chestnut-coloured bands on the belly.  She was at quite a distance so the shots aren't great, but they'll do!

I enjoy seeing the mallard ducks, even though they are "ordinary" ducks.  They still make me smile.

I always laugh at their feeding poses, sticking their feathered bottoms up in the air.

Another duck that is prevalent at the park is the American Widgeon.  This is a female.

I often see the great crested cormorant at the park.  They are really large compared to a lot of the other birds.  At this time of year, they are not in their breeding plumage, but I look forward to seeing them in their finery next year.

I've already blogged about the lesser yellowlegs, but here's an extra picture in case you missed that blog.

The grebe is one of my favourite water birds because it dives into the water so quickly and you would never even know it had been there.  Suddenly, it will surface in a completely different spot.  I find them a bit tricky to photograph because they are such busy birds, but this one was more agreeable.  I believe this is the pied-billed grebe, but the bill takes on a less distinct appearance in the non-breeding season.  I like the way the water weeds are adorning the back of this one.

Here it is just about to dive again.  You can see how the point between the neck and body has gone underwater, and the body is tipped forward, in contrast to the picture above.  The grebe can dive for up to 30 seconds at a time, seeking out fish and crustaceans.

On one of my visits, I was lucky enough to see a great blue heron coming in to land.  I wasn't able to get great shots of it, but I was still fairly pleased with the results of my efforts.  The wingspan is quite remarkable.

Here the heron is coming in for the landing.

Such an elegant bird.  I liked this photograph because the purple loosestrife (nasty, invasive weed that it is) really looks lovely framing the grey-blue colour of the heron's plumage.

I'm hoping to see, and photograph, more water birds at the park as time goes on.

Sharing this post with The Bird D'Pot, Camera Critters, and Wild Bird Wednesday.

Friday's Hunt v 2.11

Holy guacamole, where does the week go?  It's Friday (already!), so that means it's time for Friday's Hunt, hosted by Eden Hills. As usual, there are 3 topics for today: Starts with K, Week's Favourite, and Yellow or Gold.

Starts with K
My husband, Marc, is a huge motorcycle fan, and he has a number of bikes, but one of his most frequently used bikes is his Kawasaki KLR.  I think that's a two-fer on the letter K!

The KLR model has come out in various colours over the years.  I'm fond of the silver and orange model that he has - I think it's a great colour combination.

He even has a handy pouch that attaches to the handlebars that has the KLR logo on it.

I am sometimes a passenger on this bike.  It's not the kind of bike that we'd do many thousands of miles on, but it works for day trips and I am usually pretty comfortable on the rear portion of the seat, thanks to the back rest.  Here I am on the bike today - not my usual spot (the back seat), and no, we don't ride motorcycles without helmets, nor do I wear my green garden boots.  We are very conscious of safety gear.  This was just for a blog picture!

Marc also pointed out to me that the bike had an extra "letter K" feature that I might otherwise miss - it has special tires on it that are referred to as "knobby" tires.  They are designed to provide added traction on loose surface material such as sand or gravel.

Week's Favourite
To be honest, I didn't take many pictures this week.  It was a busy week.  Marc took vacation this week so that he could work on his garage project.  I was busy with some work projects and also some organizing projects.  I'm also trying to get prepared for vending at the Nova Scotia Fibre Festival in October, so it's just a busy time.  It means I haven't been visiting other blogs as much as I'd like, but sometimes that's just how it goes.

My favourite shot this week is one that I took of Fezzik the Goat in his new surroundings.  He seems to be fitting in really well and is comfortable in the woodsy setting.  He has such a confident, strong look these days.  It's such a contrast from his early days as a weak, health-compromised little goat kid.  I am so glad he made it through those hard times.  If you want to keep up with Fezzik and his news, "like" his Facebook page!

Yellow or Gold
The season change is just around the corner - autumn is rapidly asserting her presence.  Of course, the leaves begin their changes with beautiful shades of yellow and gold, so that was a natural choice for this week's category.  I'm noticing a few more yellow tones in the woods surrounding the house lately - both leaves and late flowers.  The goldenrod is still in bloom.

There are abundant blooms from the hawkweed in the lawn.  It is one of the Hieracium species, but I'm not sure which one.  There are so many species of this plant!

The birch have been dropping some yellow leaves, as have the maples.

There are even golden-yellow mushrooms to be found, although some might argue this one is venturing into "orange" territory, rather than yellow or gold!

See you again next week for Friday's Hunt!

Maple Leaf

I decided to have a little bit of fun with a maple leaf that I found on the ground under one of my maple trees.  The leaves, in general, have not all turned red yet.  There are a few that are turning yellow, but this red one was probably the result of a damaged branch or other circumstances that made it turn red early.  It caught my eye, and I wanted to photograph it in different settings.  In part, I wanted to play with lens and camera settings.  Here are the results of playing with a leaf!

I took quite a few shots of the leaf on stones, especially those with interesting lichen or other visually different characteristics.

I took a few pictures of the leaf on pine trees, as if it had naturally fallen into the boughs of the tree and nestled among the needles.

I tried a picture of the leaf against the bark, but it looks a bit too contrived.

My favourite series of pictures are the ones I took of the leaf against the stones that form the wall at the bottom of my driveway.  I liked the red leaf on the grey stones with the lichen and the pine needle debris.  It makes a good setting, I believe, for an autumnal feeling.

I moved the leaf along to one of my preferred tree stumps which has a covering of lichen and moss.  I like this picture too.

The contrast of the red leaf and the green moss caught my interest, and I tried a few different versions of this.

This one captures my favourite elements - the stone, the lichen, and the green of the moss.  I think it might be the best of the bunch, but I still love the ones against the stone wall.  I'd love to know what your favourite is!