(Originally posted on the website Continuum…)

Three things…

First… Happy St. Patrick’s Day! All the cool people are Irish. The rest of ya are just jealous of us!

Second… Some snow for my friend, Leonnie, who lives and Australia. Not only is she not Irish, poor girl, she also gets no snow. So here are a few photos taken this morning after yesterday’s snow.

Third… We haven’t seen very many birds in our yard lately. One evening I discovered that this was due to a mean old hawk that was sitting in the tree, waiting for birds to come to the feeder. I saw him chase a dove that evening. Our one feeder remained nearly full for two weeks or more. However, with snow on the ground again I noticed that the feeder was nearly empty in just one day. I filled the feeder and put a new suet block out. Then I sat in the kitchen and waited, kind of like the hawk. Below are a few photos of birds that I took this afternoon. The first is our old friend, the downy woodpecker. The second is a white-throated sparrow. The third is a red-bellied woodpecker. Beautiful bird! I know… I don’t get it either. Why is he called “red-bellied” when his head is red and his belly is white? It must have been one drunk ornithologist who named this bird!

Yes, ornithologist is a word. So is defenestration. Know what that means? Hurry! Run! Get a dictionary and find out before I do it to you!