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Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Silly Robins!




It was only 6 degrees F today.
That's -14C for you metric folks!

Yet, the Robins, our symbol of warm spring weather,
continue to hang around.  At least there are crab apples
for them to eat!  They don't eat seed.
Maybe they haven't heard there are 6 more weeks of winter!

The sun was out, though, and the sky very blue!
I almost needed sunglasses in my white kitchen with that
sun shining off the snow!  Wow! 

Don't forget the Random Acts of Kindness Adventure!
What will you be doing this week?

64 comments:

  1. Perhaps they are trying to tell you that spring might be coming sooner than you think!!! I don't suppose that you will complain will you!!! I know that I wouldn't. xx

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    1. Looks who is first! :)

      Funny thing is, the robins never left! haha.

      Winter is my favorite! (shhh....I'm the only one! ha)

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    2. I promise not to tell!! Very odd that the robins never left, I wonder why - perhaps the food on offer at your restaurant is just too tempting!! xx

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    3. Well, they can't get to the earthworms right now! haha. And they don't eat seed! It's the berries or nothing, I guess! Good thing we have plenty of those!

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    4. I still had Robins at home too Betsy....they were eating the juniper berries...felt bad for them....but...I'm hoping Amy is right...and Spring will be early♥️
      Cheers!
      Linda : o)

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  2. I saw plenty of Robins today while out walking and it hovered around 20 degrees here!

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    1. maybe robins are heartier than they used to be and don't feel the need to fly south? This is one cold winter to be staying up north, though!

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  3. ha, i might have seen then today...been laid up with the flu....blech...
    supposed to get 5-8 inches of snow starting tomorrow night....
    we are not out of it yet...

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    1. aw..poor you! Yuck!

      I heard you were getting snow! We got a fresh blanket over the weekend..I'm loving it!

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  4. You have such great birds. I love seeing them since we just don't get those lovely colorful ones. So nice that you have plenty of berries and crab apples for them. I didn't know they don't eat seeds. I'm ready for RAK Friday.

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    1. Yeah, they love their worms...no seed! haha.

      Are you ready? Wow...good for you! Did you have to go seeking this one or did it knock on your door? haha.
      I'm still planning mine.....

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    2. It just sorta happened..but it wasn't at home. It's fun when its on your mind to be "giving". Got a picture.

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  5. If I were a robin I'd head south! I don't know how they manage to survive the cold!
    Mary x

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    1. I would, too! Those feathers don't look very warm! And bare feet? No way! haha.

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  6. Great preponderance of birds, Betsy, At first I thought they were being buzzed by a sparrow hawk but relieved to see it was harmless. You have so many birds in your garden - reminds me of Hitchcock's, film The Birds.
    For the rest of the week I may, or part of it, I may have a go at making a couple of your delicious pancakes.

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    1. Well, I hope your pancakes turn out!

      The Birds? haha...oh no...we've never been attacked by any. haha.

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    2. You could always call on the cats for help lol

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    3. haha...true, true...but that would be us attacking birds..not birds attacking us...but if I had to choose, I would choose to be the attacker instead of the attackee. lol.

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    4. Love the word 'attackee' lol Never heard it before but I think it is perfectly valid.
      Guess what??? It didn't rain today!!!

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    5. haha...I think I just made that word up. :)

      More rain? My goodness! Is everyone having a bad hair day every day? ha.

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    6. Ah! What a difference a day makes (Tues) - it is sunny!!! varooom!!
      We feel so much better when the sun comes out.
      Just looking at your Robins and digesting some of the comments.
      Boy, your Robins are much bigger than ours - they would definitely call the Batmen lol

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    7. It is sunny here today too Eddie! Our robins would run a mile if they saw an American robin - ours are tiny in comparison aren't they. Hope that everyone is drier today! xx

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    8. Hi Amy - yes, true to US style - they make the Robins bigger and better! ROFL
      Just joking Betsy!! LOL

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    9. I'd take Batman over Robin any day! :)

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  7. I been reading of people on Facebook and blogs reporting sightings of robins. I haven't seen any yet but I'm looking.

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  8. Well they don't look cold
    Grabbing their food above the fold
    Maybe they are the lazy ones
    Who don't want to make south runs

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    1. That could be it
      smarter than other twits
      staying high above the cats
      eating crab apples just like that.

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  9. We too had a whole bunch of robins out today- hadn't seen them for awhile after getting a 12" dumping of snow. But things were warming up this morning . . . melting away, and out they came to poke around for food and excite my two kitties. I'm always amazed at how large they are. I forever think of them as 'small' birds.

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    1. We need some of those tiny round English robins, don't we? They look adorable! Yes ours are big ol things! They, along with the jays, really dwarf the little finches and sparrows!

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  10. I love robins. Especially the ones without the bat. I sure could do with a bit of spring, Betsy.

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    1. Aw, Randy...don't start longing for spring just yet! It's a long ways away. Just made a snowman and enjoy winter! ha.

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  11. We've had some around here too. Crazy birds!
    I'm thinking on my plans for this week!

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    1. Me, too! Now I just need to get it all organized!

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  12. Great shots Betsy! They fly around here too! Maybe they figured since the South is chillier than usual they will come home early to see if it's warmer here. Lucky there are crab apples left!

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    1. I'm surprised there are crab apples left! But we have three trees, so that helps a lot. We only had one robin for a very long time and now it has company. :)

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  13. I think you and I are the only ones who love winter! And I shout it from the rooftops: I LOVE WINTER! And then I get pelted with snowballs. Ha!

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    1. lol....and that's why I say "shh!" ha. And..winter is just more beautiful with snow! If it was barren, brown and boring outside, I'd probably be wanting spring, too. But snow? Gorgeous..especially with the fresh blankets we keep getting. I'll take it a while longer, for sure!

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  14. I came across a group of Robins, the other day, in the park. I took several pictures but my point'n shoot camera didn't do them justice.
    I still chuckling about the temperatures in both systems (SI and Metric). Metric seems sooo much colder!

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    1. It DOES seem colder! That's why I put that there for the metric people....6 is cold! :) Do you have snow?

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  15. Oh, my heart aches for all the little critters in the cold!! blessings ~ tanna

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    1. They seem happy enough. But I always take note that when warm spring arrives, they start singing. They don't sing in the winter!

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  16. I've seen crows, sparrows, and mourning doves. Even a couple of squirrels. No robins, though.

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    1. That's because they are all in my trees! What's up with that? ha. Maybe they heard Georgia is getting ice. lol...

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  17. Lol. I bet this weather is confusing the birds all over as it is us.

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  18. Good evening, beautiful! (smiling)

    Can't blame those robins one bit for lurking in your trees! And look at that blue sky! We have sun today! Amazing and splendid!
    I carried my umbrella just in case, though.

    Vince xo

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    1. They are a little aloof, though. Nothing like Mr. Cardinal that actually looks in the window, makes eye contact and talks to me! ha.

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    2. You're online? Splendid.

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    3. I have something I want to tell you. Look for an email!

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  19. Beautiful, I love birds! And I love how you captured the bird flying ;)

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  20. I haven't seen any robins yet. Maybe they're all in Ohio.

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  21. Hi Betsy, lovely birds, georgeous photos! And how astonishingly big these Robins are! We only have a very small kind in Germany. And we have no snow at all and the temperatures seldom get below celtic 0° in the nights but up to celtic 12° during the days. There is even a petunia from last summer still living outside my kitchen window. That has never happened before! -
    When you payed a visit to my blog last weekend, you commented on the differences between British and American 'green thumbs'. I do agree, that they have a huge amount of spectacular gardens on the British Isles. In my opinion this is due to their climate and to the traditional passion for gardening, the whole nation has developed over the centuries. Nevertheless I have seen pictures of brilliant American gardens, too!
    But in fact I'd rather like to talk about some other 'difference' today. I have thought about this for some time for fear to create some misunderstanding. So let me state at first, that I think your 'Random acts of Kindness' project is absolutely a great idea and I admire you anyway for all your energy and benevolence. But over here in Western Europe we are usually brought up with the idea, to be 'kind', but never talk about it in public. So for instance I have a considerably rich friend who gives among other things an awful lot of money to a school for poor girls in Asia and would be very cross with me, if I ever mentioned his name! I guess in your country the priority is to set an example, which can be followed, wheras in Germany one could be suspected of to much 'pride' in the biblical sense. It might also be, that there still rules a powerful echo from one of the major topics of the Reformation: the Catholic Church said, you could come to God by giving money to the church and by doing good deeds and Luther said, no, only and exclusively by the MERCY of God. This did of course NOT mean, that you shouldn`t do good things, but you should not hope to be able to make some kind of 'deal`with God. Of course this might seem to be a far cry from the topic at first glance, but I think something of this fundamental religious struggle must be still in our collective subconciousness over here. Because I really had to ask myself, why at first I shrank back from the idea of having to tell what 'kind acts' I might have performed! But after all I tend to convert to your American motives and will tell here what I did: walked the fields several times to feed some wild cats, living in an deserted orchard on their own after their owner's death. Send a bunch of tulips and a letter to a friend, who had an accident on Saturday. And as she has a lot of bruises and must endure great pain, I will bake a cake for her tomorrow, because she loves cake, and send it to her. And I talked to a friend of mine, who works in a Home for Senior Citizens to find a lonely lady for me whom I can visit regularly....
    Christel

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    1. I'm so glad you brought this up, Christel!

      I think there is a difference in doing little kindnesses (like sending a note, baking a cake, or sending flowers) and bragging in public about giving a large amount of money to a certain organization. My husband and I give quite a bit of money to several charities and individuals, and I do think it would be in very poor taste to publicly broadcast what we do..especially how much we gave and to whom.... Just like it would be in poor taste to say how much we paid for our house or car, or something like that.

      The Random Acts of Kindness is more of spreading a little love and encouraging others to pass it on. God tells us not to hide our light (or love for him) but to let it shine through the world. So I see the random acts as spreading light just like he wants us to. God also says to encourage each other to do good works, and I think this falls under that line of thinking, too! If you never share what you do, how are you to encourage others to join in with you? That's how I feel about it anyway.

      Many of my acts are anonymous, so there isn't a chance of bragging or being proud about it. Whoever got my card and payment at the salon has no idea it was me who did that. Some things are not done anonymously, like me leaving a treat for the mail lady and like you taking flowers and a cake to your friend. We're just showing love and kindness...with pure motives...not expecting anything in return and certainly not feeling pride in what we have done.

      I can understand how you would feel telling someone what you did might be bragging about it, but I guess it's all in the attitude in how it is presented and in the motive of why you do it. If we link together in our blogs and share our ideas and experiences, I think we inspire each other and motivate each other to look for more ways to spread kindness. At least that was my intent and I hope nobody thinks we are all bragging and being proud. And I'm certainly not expecting any pats on the back, rewards or anything like that. I just wanted to encourage people to look around at others and spread some love and hope that it keeps growing and spilling over to others as it gets passed on.

      I also agree that doing good things doesn't get you to heaven. Luther is correct. God says we should do good works as a result of your salvation and not a means to salvation. Salvation is a gift and cannot be earned no matter how good we are or what we do. As I mentioned before, this was just to shine God's light and love, and encourage others to do the same. No rewards, except the blessing you receive in giving.

      I think this might be a good topic to bring up here on my blog, so I'll address this further on this Friday's post.

      Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. You know I appreciate your opinion!

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    2. Dear Betsy, I am more than grateful to you, that you took so much time to talk to me that exhaustively!!! And I am a little sorry, that I cannot just have you over for tea to go on with that interesting discussion!

      I think I agree with every detail of your little essay and I really love your methaphor of 'shining God's light'. And please rest assured that of course I would never have thought you or anyone else telling about her/his ideas of spreading kindness of 'bragging' (so I learned a new word today)!!!! Of course I knew from the start, that your whole attitude and the spirit of your Random Acts of Kindness Adventure was every inch as you describe it!!!

      And it is my opinion also that to be thankful for the gifts of life and salvation, to cherish and praise them, one should try be 'kind' on earth. It's one of our tasks, I believe. And by the way, I always find, that there is a much greater joy for myself in trying to lead (and sometimes succeed) a life of kindness and love than anything else!

      What kind of irritated me was my own reflex of feeling slightly uncomfortable about the question whether I could talk about my little ideas or not. And this in obvious contrast to the pure excitement and joy you (and all my American friends) seem to experience in this matter.

      So as I tend to be a little self reflective sometimes, I asked myself, where my little uneasiness might derive from. Cultural differences in feeling towards this subject? Deep and old religious roots as we discussed them? Just being a bit complicated? Maybe there was a bit of everything in it!

      But anyway I ended this investigation with the decision, as I already said yesterday, that one simply has to TALK about the things you want to succeed in this world! Instead of being quiet and humble. Maybe it can even become a false pride, too, if you take pleasure in your humbleness... But to have your detailed opinion helped me a lot to sort things out.

      I hope, Betsy, you do not mind, that I obviously kind of 'urged' you to write me such a long letter. But it was indeed a real 'Random act of Kindness' towards me!

      Thank you again and blessings
      Christel



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    3. Well, it looks like we're sending essays to each other! ;) Thanks for writing back. As you were writing, I am composing a post for this evening about this very topic. You are not the only one who had those initial feelings, because someone read your first comment here and emailed me saying they agreed with you and that outside the USA it is a bit different. So, I do want to clear things up for others who may feel the same way and didn't comment. I think it will be a good discussion.

      By the way, I loved the kindnesses you were doing...flowers, cake, visits...all good things...and yes, shining a light. :)

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  22. This is the first winter in a long time that we haven't had robins here (north-central Missouri) all winter long. I guess they somehow knew it was going to be a harsher season than usual. What I have done in the past is to feed them dry cat food. They need the protein and just gobble it up! I was excited today to see about twenty doves at the feeders. Usually there are only four or five. You know the sound they make as they lift up - that little squeak and the flutter of the wings? It was amazing to hear it from so many at once. I hope they return tomorrow. ~Vicky J.

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    1. Hi, Vicky J. :) Thanks for commenting! Dry cat food? I never would have thought! I have plenty of that! I'll have to put it out with the seed and see if they take it. As long as I don't attract the local skunk or raccoon! haha.

      I do know that sound! One of my favorite things about spring is to have my window open beside my desk...the feeder is just outside the window and I can here them chirp and flutter...and it makes for great photos without anything between us.

      Love that you have 20 doves! I've only seen a couple here this winter. I guess you have the doves and I have the robins! :)

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