December | 2024 | wordsfromanneli

December 9, 2024
by wordsfromanneli 31 Comments

I is for Ice

Ice on the fennel plants looks pretty, but the songbirds that pick at the fennel seeds are dismayed when they see this. Their food source that would otherwise bring some heat to their little bodies is covered in ice.

The deer, too, can suffer when this happens out in the woods. The small twigs on the shrubs of deciduous trees get a coating of ice, and it is very hard on the deer who rely on the twigs to browse on in the winter. Imagine thinking you’ll get a meal of twigs and you get a mouthful of ice instead.

Only sunshine or a warm current of air and maybe some rain can bring the seeds back to an edible condition.

Here is another version of ice in nature – a frozen creek surface.

While it is a pretty design, it reminds me of how easily animals can get into trouble walking on thin ice. If you have a dog who likes to be by the water, be especially careful not to let him/her go onto the thin ice of ponds or creeks that look safe but can be deadly.

Please keep an eye on your pets near thin ice.

I is for ice – sometimes pretty, but not always nice.

December 8, 2024
by wordsfromanneli 28 Comments

H is for Horses, Home on the Range

Not a bad life for a horse while the weather is warm enough. These horses in Montana, even in October, find that it’s still great to have wide open spaces in the sunshine, for romping around on top of a field full of food.

But when the owner calls them to come home, it’s a treat to get a decent meal and a safe place to sleep for the night.

I listened in on the horses’ conversation:

Ready for another day on the range. Our owner said, “No horsing around now,” but we’ll do what we like. What would you do?

Whenever a vehicle stops by our gate, we line up and look as smart as we can. You never know when someone will point and say, “I’d like to have a better look at that one.”

While we wait for someone to buy us, we stand at the fence looking pretty — like girls in a beauty contest.

But shh! No one needs to know that we’re full of beans. They’ll find out soon enough after they buy us.

December 7, 2024
by wordsfromanneli 26 Comments

G is for Goose

This photo is from February, a few years ago, when we had a sudden snowfall. These Canada geese were probably wintering here, rather than flying farther south, but I’m sure they didn’t expect it to snow. Even the five or six snow geese in the foreground were probably not expecting snow. I think their name comes solely from their colour, not from any love of snow.

Most of the geese have their head in the snow, trying to work their way down to the roots of the crop that was harvested a few months earlier. They may find some nourishment there, and possibly the odd worm might be lurking just under the ground.

The geese must be finding enough to eat there to make it worthwhile, or they would all be on the other side of the road (from where I took the picture) where there is an estuary that is a bit more sheltered and the water is shallow, providing nibbles of seafood just barely covered by water.

I’m guessing that another reason they’re not in that estuary just at this photo time could be that the tide was out and the mudflats are exposed. When there is a bit more water, the geese can swim and be safer from predators, and they can dabble in the muck for their hors d’oeuvres.

In the field, they can’t swim and be out of reach, but the field is flat and provides plenty of oversight. You will always see one or two geese acting as sentries while the rest have their head down, feeding. Somehow, they manage to take turns at watch duty.

See the little bit of black near the tail feathers of the snow geese above. Those feathers are actually their black wingtips that make the geese so easily identifiable when they fly overhead. White feathers reflecting the sunshine, and black wingtips adding special decoration.

G is for goose, but not Christmas goose for dinner. Not here, anyway.

December 6, 2024
by wordsfromanneli 39 Comments

F is for Fawns in the Flowers

In nature, when a mother deer or its fawns need a break, the doe stashes her babies and tells them not to move until she comes back for them.

In the places near the outskirts of town, where houses have encroached on their space, the does bring the fawns to places like my herb garden to put them down for a nap.

“Here,” Mama says. “You lie down and have a nap by this lavender, or over by that big rosemary bush while I go find your brother. Now don’t move and you’ll be safe.”

“Okay, Mama. Ooh! This smells yummy.”

“Ah, there you are, little brother, having a nap by the lemon balm. Come on, my boy. Let’s go back and get your sister.”

“Okay, kids. Just eat the little dandelion leaves. The grass isn’t all that nourishing, but a dandelion salad is good for you.”

F is for fawns eating the weeds by the flowers in my herb garden.

Then I had an afterthought. F could also be for their father. So here you have the mothers and fathers of fawns in the days when they were very hungry and I fed them for a while.

F is for fawns, their fathers, flowers, food, and a fine day.

December 5, 2024
by wordsfromanneli 37 Comments

E has to be for Emma

When Emma was a baby, the ensuite bathroom was a good place for her to play. Nothing she could wreck in there, and a tile floor in case of accidents.

Be sure to turn on your sound.

When she had the run of the house, she liked to play around her dog bed, which was beside Ruby’s (our springer spaniel). Looking for something to chew on and destroy, as usual.

Later she even chewed the straps out of out nearly new Birkenstocks. Apparently she wasn’t sorry. The flavour must have been … irresistible.

Hey guys! Anneli told me a joke. She said she’d give me away if I didn’t behave myself.

That’s a doggone good one, eh?

She’ll keep me around. She can’t help herself. I’m just too darn cute to give away even if I misbehave sometimes.

And anyway, she needs me for her alphabet blogs because E is for Emma.

December 4, 2024
by wordsfromanneli 39 Comments

D is for Ducks

At first glance it looks like the farmer grew a crop of mallards.

On second glance we can see that there are widgeons among them.

At third glance, in a close look near the bottom of the photo we can see that the farmer actually grew potatoes. Some were missed and have been unearthed by the ducks to nibble on. It’s not their first choice of food but who knows what other seeds or insects may be hiding alongside the potatoes?

D is for duck, but when they sense danger, they don’t “duck.” They fly!

December 3, 2024
by wordsfromanneli 40 Comments

C is for Cowboy the Cat

Cowboy was a cat, probably the most special cat I’ve ever had. He loved me and I loved him. When he and his brother were only a few inches long, the two of them lay in their owner’s hand. The owner of the kittens told me, if you don’t take them … and he made a motion as if he would close his hand and squish them. Of course he wouldn’t really do that, but the cats’ lives were at stake.

I took the two cats and named them after two boys that I had taught back in those long ago days. Their mother had called her children by the nicknames, Cowboy and Shorty. I liked the names, and thought it would be perfect for these cat brothers too.

We may meet Shorty in a later post when I get to the letter S.

Cowboy thought he owned me. As you can see, he has claimed my knee in this photo.

When I brushed my teeth in the bathroom of our very small starter home, Cowboy would jump up onto the toilet lid and from there up onto my back as I bent over the sink. He got comfortable on my shoulders and then stretched his head around the side of my face so he could lick the toothpaste off my cheek and chin.

I guess it had that same minty flavour of the catnip in our garden that sometimes had him doing backflips out there.

He didn’t like to be left behind if I went for a walk down the field below our house. He would follow behind, trying to catch up, hoping for permission to come along, by calling out, “AllOW! … AllOW! … AllOW! (He had a bit of Siamese in him and was able to make that sound of a baby crying.)

So of course I would allow him to come along.

He lived for 13 and a half years, and it was nowhere near long enough. I still miss him.

December 2, 2024
by wordsfromanneli 46 Comments

B is for the Birds

I have loved birds even when I was a small child. My mother used to tell me that the birds were talking to me. If I listened, I could hear what they were saying. Let’s just say that the power of suggestion worked overtime on me. I imagine the birds talking to me (and to each other) even now in my old(er) age.

Most birds bring us joy with their songs and their antics.

Some bring us a rude awakening when we walk under rows of them perched on overhead wires.

I had to wash my jacket after walking home under these birds.

But the owner of this car had a bigger washing job to do the next morning. He won’t park under the wires again.

Still, without birds, the world would be quiet, and not as happy as it could be.

Enjoy your day, and remember to listen to what the birds are saying. They may be talking to you.

Today they are saying:

B is for birds.

December 1, 2024
by wordsfromanneli 50 Comments

A is for Anneli

I thought I would attempt a project that would take me to Christmas. The plan is to focus on the letters of the alphabet in their natural sequence and blab on about something that begins with that letter each day.

I hope the posts won’t be very long, since it means a post every day, and my usual policy is not to post more than once a week, twice at the most. There are too many posts to follow if we all posted every day, so I ask your indulgence for 26 days, once for each letter of the alphabet.

Starting with A, I will introduce myself after about thirteen or so years of blogging. My name is Anneli, and for those of you who struggle with the pronunciation, it rhymes with Emily.