Most of you know that, because of large trees, most of any gardening we do is in the side yard. Due to some major life events this past year, there was no gardening at all. Partly due to time constraints, but mostly to do with lack of motivation.

Looking out the kitchen window was fairly depressing, so I set out to add some minor points of interest on which to gaze while doing my least favorite chore of washing the dishes. I love to watch wildlife out my window, but because we have always had cats, very few species dared to entire our yard. Now that we are kitty-less I decided it was time to start feeding the birds again. In the past we felt it pointless and almost cruel to provide a “kitty-buffet” for not only our brood, but the multiple strays that wondered in. Now that we have none of our own, we have fewer feline visitors.

We put up corn feeding stations for the squirrels, who now provide us with much entertainment, and two bird feeders. We only feed safflower, nuts, and black oil sunflowers in hopes to pull in the specific species of birds. Along with the feeders, I provided a “make-shift” watering spot as well. Every day, as I would stand at the sink, I wondered how long it would be before the little darlings found the bird feeders. Every day I was met with disappointment….UNTIL TODAY! Today, my patience was rewarded with the site of two finches!

This week we also actually planted some mums that I had sitting in pots on my front porch in hopes of saving them before another (major) freeze. No sustainable vegetable gardening going on here at the  moment, but I figure that about February I will be perusing seed catalogs and dreaming of a greener side yard for spring.

Squirrels provide such great entertainment with silly antics. These next photos were taken on the first day that the squirrels found the “stash” we had provided for them.

Well, I am not certain what happened, but after I posted my last bit…just for grins I clicked on the view site link and ~viola~! I have a sidebar. Wordpress gremlins at work maybe?

Since I have been away for so long, I wouldn’t expect that many readers are still around. I thought that after my children were sent off to college that things would calm down enough for me to re-establish myself in blogdomhood….NOT! I have checked in here a few times, but when I noticed that there were some technical issues with my sidebar I just could not devote the time to figuring out a solution. This is something that the blog did itself…without my help….because it was fine one day….several days as a matter of fact…since the last post and everything was fine. Then one day I sauntered in here and found I had no sidebar. What is it called when the bar is no longer at the side, but at the bottom?

As much as I hate having to give up my personalized header, I guess I am going to search for yet another WordPress theme. I know my theme was not overly professional, but it was MINE…unlike anyone elses. So with deep regrets of not having a better technology ability, I must forge forward with someone else’s theme. Don’t know how long it will take me to find the right one…but a-huntin’ I shall go…..

From GreenBiz.com

Climate Change as a Security Threat

A front-page story in Sunday’s New York Times proclaimed Climate Change Seen as a Threat to U.S. Security, describing how climate change could lead to “profound strategic challenges to the United States in coming decades, raising the prospect of military intervention to deal with the effects of violent storms, drought, mass migration and pandemics.”

The story noted that “Such climate-induced crises could topple governments, feed terrorist movements or destabilize entire regions, say the analysts, experts at the Pentagon and intelligence agencies who for the first time are taking a serious look at the national security implications of climate change.”

The Times writers, like so many others, have short memories. This is hardly “the first time” the military has examined this topic.
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More HERE.

If you are needing a smile today, this video will surely bring it….

ENJOY!