Tuesday, December 2, 2008

PARDON MY GROUSE


The wind has been blowing here for days. Not the worst I’ve seen it blow, mind you, but still, I’m getting plenty tired of it. This morning when I got up I wanted to open the patio door and shout to the sky, Enough already! Except it was blowing so hard I couldn’t push the door open even a crack. Yesterday I did manage to go out (the front door) and fill up the birdfeeders, just in case. That’s a job that takes some dexterity, and my exposed fingers went numb in seconds. A few goldfinches were hanging around, and once I hung the thistle feeder back up, they made a valiant attempt to get some seed. The wind blew back their feathers (ouch!) and spun them around the perch pegs like whirlygigs on a stick. It didn’t look very easy or comfortable. They have't been back today. It’s just as well. I’ve decided I don’t like where the feeders are hung; too many places for the local prowling cats to ambush them, but with everything outside going sideways, it’s just too difficult to move them now. Besides, even the cats are indoors lately.

There really isn’t a place on my property to hang feeders that is sheltered from the winter winds, except possibly in the front yard. But in front there isn’t a place to anchor strings of yellow tape to keep the birds safe from the window glass. I’m not sure I want yellow tape on my front windows anyway. If they hung out in that part of the yard,the birds would just perch and poop all over my pretty freshly-painted front porch, so…scrap that idea. There are several other outside things I want and need to do. I bundled up last night to take the recycling bins out to the road, pulled my tuque down tight, but the wind still ripped it off. I caught it just before it went totally airborne. Tonight the garbage goes out. All my containers have stout clothesline ropes on them so I can tie them to the mailbox post. Otherwise, when the workers emptied them in the early morning hours before I'm up, they would blow away. This morning when I dashed outside to take this photo of the spray icicles on the downed branch, I pulled the tuque on again, and then wrapped a long scarf around and behind my head. I caught my reflection in the window. I looked like a cross between a Muslim woman and Marley’s ghost. I need to repair some of the ripped yellow tape across the back window. When it flutters, it keeps the flying birds from hitting the windows, but in this wind, it’s not fluttering, but getting torn into streamers and tied in knots! I want to wrap some tinsel garland on my rural mailbox and hang some jingle bells on it. Impossible until it’s calm.

Still it blows. I feel like Vincent Van Gogh as I once saw him portrayed in a biopic, driven a little cuckoo-cuckoo by the incessant Mistral winds. Vincent, I feel your pain!

17 comments:

Sylvia K said...

Ah, I do relate! It isn't windy for a change, but cold, damp and gray. Even the dogs have retreated from outside -- Sam Schnauzer is in his bed and Mojo has taken over mine -- she does that when "daddy" isn't home. I just put on another sweater, rubbed the aching knees and started bitchy mumblings to the weather gods.

Wayfaring Wanderer said...

Let's hope you get some relief soon!!!

Mary said...

Yikes, that looks COLD!!! The older I get, the less able I am to deal with the bitter cold. I have to force myself to go out, or I end up with severe cabin fever by the end of the winter...

Hope it gets a little warmer for you soon!

Kim said...

I do not like it when it's windy and cold. I feel like it's assaulting me and I run for the indoors as quickly as I can.

I hear you on filling up the bird feeders and doing your recycling when it's cold out. It's a complete pain!! I look at the birds ouside in the cold and it motivates me to get out there no matter how much I don't want to.

I hope the winds die down for you soon.

bobbie said...

That photo looks really cold! Not my cup of tea at all! Sure hope it lets up soon.

Squirrel said...

since I've been experiencing fever and chills the past 2 days this post is making me feel extra cold...

sometimes I just give up and put some of the birdseed on the ground. We have cardinals, which like ground feeding anyway. If you (say next summer on a mild day!) go out and put up some sort of wind shelter for a feeder.

Birds hit my window too, what I finally did was hang a good sized large glass bird from a wire on the inside. birds seem to see it and avoid hitting the window. My friend put a decal on her window and that worked too.

AphotoAday said...

Yeah, nothing worse than a stiff cold wind...
It was terribly foggy here (San Francisco Bay Area) yesterday, but today it's clear as a bell...
I'm headed out for the afternoon -- hope I get some photos...

Quiet Paths said...

Brrr.

Well, you know what they say on the prairie Deb. You know this because you've lived in the foothills where the prairie meets the mountains - if it don't kill ya and blow ya' away; it'll make ya' stronger.

Now apply the weather-stripping and stay warm!

wispy willow said...

brrrr... what's colder than wind over water? Not much. My dad used to say ocean breezes could get "colder than a witch's tit". Is that naughty? I can't make up my mind.

Our first home was at the mouth of a canyon and when the winds blew, they ripped. Actually blew the hosue across the street down from us just before it was completed and ready for occupancy. I got SO TIRED of it!

Being hot can be uncomfortable, no doubt about that. But being cold can be painful. And the older and more arthritic you become, the more painful it is.

Anonymous said...

I have read stories of pioneer women going crazy from the wind out on the prairies. Wonder why is just the women?
So, do you always have wind like that? I would be complaining, too. We are fairly warm here, the high 40's, with sun.
When I take my trash can out in the morning, I will be thinking of you, and thanking god that I don't have to tie it to the telephone pole!

Great Grandma Lin said...

sounds cold, sure glad I live in the warm desert year round. poor birds, hope you figure out a way for them to get some seeds.

Ramblings of a Villas Girl said...

Hi Deborah! Sure looks cold and miserable. Hope the weather changes soon. Lisa

Rose said...

But don't day like this make you feel so thankful to have the warm and snug homes that we do have...I grumble and complain about the days and days without sun that we sometimes go through here, but over all I am at the bottom thankful for the things we do have.

magiceye said...

adventurous morn!!

Squirrel said...

not to rub it in or anything but I just saw the weather news and it looks like you're in for another day like this.

nagonda !

(that was just my word verification, but it seemed to work as a swear word.)

Anonymous said...

That sounds so cold and then I look at the picture and think of the moisture in the air from the ocean and can imagine that the wind probably feels like wet ice. All I can think is wow.

Indrani said...

Not a morning I would like to wake up to.it must be over by now I hope.