Noisy Nuthatches

Oh, is it February already? Guess I'd better keep my promise to resume the blog. Things are still quite hectic but all is well. What a spring it will be when everyone is back to whatever passes for normal.

Like most of North Carolina, we have had some severe weather with huge snow storms, freezing rain and ice. Unfortunately, we are expecting another episode for the weekend. The TarHeel basketball team can't seem to get it together so hopes are dim for a good year for them. Fortunately we have movies to watch and some really great books to read. How convenient that some of my favorite authors have come out with new books this winter. Right now I am mostly finished with Elizabeth Kostova's The Swan Thieves and it definitely proves her first book (The Historian) was not a "one-hit" wonder. A great plot with interesting characters and while totally different from her first book it is equally well-written and absolutely fascinating.

We have enjoyed watching the backyard birds eating us out of house and home. One of our most vocal birds this time of year is the White-breasted Nuthatch. Among our earliest nesters, they have already been searching houses and cavities. I don't recall these rituals so early, but clearly they are getting an early start this year.

The nuthatches checked out his very house last year and decided against it. I do hope they will use it this year but only time will tell.

I'm hoping to do more reading of your own blogs as we approach better times. I'll likely spend quite a few hours catching up because I truly am interested in finding out what's going on in your lives.

HEY! The sun is shining!