Simple pleasures..

[ironglow]

  A beautiful feature of these balmy summer evenings , are the times spent on the old front porch. 

On our corner "compound'.. the buildings line up as so..
    First is my son's Victorian home, then behind his photo studio, next our 2-story  garage, maintenance, crafts & blacksmith shop  followed by my small manufactured home.
 On these beautiful summer evenings, I like to walk over to the main house, and spend time together on the porch.

 There are two side decks, but I enjoy the front porch most.  Neighbors stroll by..and we often invite them onto the porch, to enjoy a lemonade, tea or coffee.
  Soon, the fireflies will be out, adding their little winkers to the gathering dusk..  The porch, below..

[oldandslow]

Our summer evenings are hot and very dry this year. We finally had .85" of rain a few weeks ago. Nothing greened up. I can't remember a dry spell that has lasted this long since I moved to NM in late 1956. After sunset it quickly cools off and is pleasant outside except for the wind which has been an annoying and almost constant presence all this year. I like the time just as early morning twilight arrives until about an hour after sunup as it's cool and the wind is usually at it's lowest point. We have no neighbors that wander by but my wife and I drink out coffee on the patio while the world wakens and watch the birds. It's 4000' elevation here and sometimes we need a light jacket in the morning. Balmy isn't something we have to deal with.

[BUGEYE]

Our house faces south and the front porch is small so it goes unused.
Out back, we have a covered swing and Nancy has landscaped the yard beautifully.
Plus the bird feeders to watch.
This year we only have one hummingbird but several others have nested in our birdhouses.

I love the porch on the house in the picture.  It reminds me of my childhood.

Nancy's "she shed."
I built it when I could still climb a step ladder.  we're having a metal roof installed later on.

[oldandslow]

When you mentioned humming birds it reminded me that we have more this year than in several years but still not a lot. Something that has never happened before is where one has a nest. I put up a j-hook in the carport which adjoins our bedroom several years ago because my wife wanted to put a wind chime there. It didn't take long for the chime to disappear as it kept us awake at night. I left the hook where it was and this year a hummingbird has build a nest on the hook. I have to be sure to park the car far enough away to keep the little rascal from pooping on the it.

[ironglow]

  We have less than usual humming birds this year..but Robins have been super active.  I don't have a humming bird attraction near my house, but we have a couple near  the big house..very little action around them, however.

[BUGEYE]

When you mentioned humming birds it reminded me that we have more this year than in several years but still not a lot. Something that has never happened before is where one has a nest. I put up a j-hook in the carport which adjoins our bedroom several years ago because my wife wanted to put a wind chime there. It didn't take long for the chime to disappear as it kept us awake at night. I left the hook where it was and this year a hummingbird has build a nest on the hook. I have to be sure to park the car far enough away to keep the little rascal from pooping on the it.

Yeah I watch hummingbird nests on the internet and those babies can really squirt.

[ironglow]

When you mentioned humming birds it reminded me that we have more this year than in several years but still not a lot. Something that has never happened before is where one has a nest. I put up a j-hook in the carport which adjoins our bedroom several years ago because my wife wanted to put a wind chime there. It didn't take long for the chime to disappear as it kept us awake at night. I left the hook where it was and this year a hummingbird has build a nest on the hook. I have to be sure to park the car far enough away to keep the little rascal from pooping on the it.

Yeah I watch hummingbird nests on the internet and those babies can really squirt.

   Squirt?   ... Does that mean they foul their own nest?

[BUGEYE]

When you mentioned humming birds it reminded me that we have more this year than in several years but still not a lot. Something that has never happened before is where one has a nest. I put up a j-hook in the carport which adjoins our bedroom several years ago because my wife wanted to put a wind chime there. It didn't take long for the chime to disappear as it kept us awake at night. I left the hook where it was and this year a hummingbird has build a nest on the hook. I have to be sure to park the car far enough away to keep the little rascal from pooping on the it.

Yeah I watch hummingbird nests on the internet and those babies can really squirt.

   Squirt?   ... Does that mean they foul their own nest?

They stick their butt over the edge and squirt outside the nest.

[ironglow]

When you mentioned humming birds it reminded me that we have more this year than in several years but still not a lot. Something that has never happened before is where one has a nest. I put up a j-hook in the carport which adjoins our bedroom several years ago because my wife wanted to put a wind chime there. It didn't take long for the chime to disappear as it kept us awake at night. I left the hook where it was and this year a hummingbird has build a nest on the hook. I have to be sure to park the car far enough away to keep the little rascal from pooping on the it.

Yeah I watch hummingbird nests on the internet and those babies can really squirt.

   Squirt?   ... Does that mean they foul their own nest?

They stick their butt over the edge and squirt outside the nest.

  When I was a kid, we used to look to get nests full of crow babies..  Why?  ..Because we heard they could be trained to talk! 
  I doubt that was true, anyway we raised several nests..and never got a 'boo' out of them  We also heard they could talk better if we split their tongues..we never went that far..

  We fed them bread & milk...

  One thing sure..they sure did foul their nests !  Time the survivors fledged..the nest looked like a pile of whitewash and axle grease..

[DDZ]

Nothing beats sitting on the deck/porch with a beer after the heat of the day has subsided.  I live in a place where after dusk and all the birds go silent. There is complete silence at times. That is until toward the end of July when the night is filled with the sounds of cicadas, katydids, and crickets. Along with the call of a screech owl, or barred owl.  Many times the simple pleasures in life are the very best pleasures.  Many people's lives are so busy that they don't even recognize these pleasures. 

For those that are somewhat into bird watching or identifying different kinds of birds. There is this pretty cool phone app called Merlin ID.  You record the sounds of birds and it tells you what kinds of birds it hears. After using it a couple weeks I have found that it pretty accurate, and quite amazing.  In just a week of using it I have over 30 different kinds of birds that it has identified.       

[ironglow]

Nothing beats sitting on the deck/porch with a beer after the heat of the day has subsided.  I live in a place where after dusk and all the birds go silent. There is complete silence at times. That is until toward the end of July when the night is filled with the sounds of cicadas, katydids, and crickets. Along with the call of a screech owl, or barred owl.  Many times the simple pleasures in life are the very best pleasures.  Many people's lives are so busy that they don't even recognize these pleasures. 

For those that are somewhat into bird watching or identifying different kinds of birds. There is this pretty cool phone app called Merlin ID.  You record the sounds of birds and it tells you what kinds of birds it hears. After using it a couple weeks I have found that it pretty accurate, and quite amazing.  In just a week of using it I have over 30 different kinds of birds that it has identified.     

  Yes, we get the sound of the "peepers' plus the screech owls and mourning doves..all part of the contentment..

[DDZ]

Nothing beats sitting on the deck/porch with a beer after the heat of the day has subsided.  I live in a place where after dusk and all the birds go silent. There is complete silence at times. That is until toward the end of July when the night is filled with the sounds of cicadas, katydids, and crickets. Along with the call of a screech owl, or barred owl.  Many times the simple pleasures in life are the very best pleasures.  Many people's lives are so busy that they don't even recognize these pleasures. 

For those that are somewhat into bird watching or identifying different kinds of birds. There is this pretty cool phone app called Merlin ID.  You record the sounds of birds and it tells you what kinds of birds it hears. After using it a couple weeks I have found that it pretty accurate, and quite amazing.  In just a week of using it I have over 30 different kinds of birds that it has identified.     

  Yes, we get the sound of the "peepers' plus the screech owls and mourning doves..all part of the contentment..

I always link the first sound of the peepers as the end of winter. Actually this year I had heard them about as early as I ever had. It was around the middle of March when I heard the first ones. Generally its the last week in March.

[Drilling Man]

  With all the heat most are having, I thought I'd give you a winter pict...



  DM

[oldandslow]

When you mentioned humming birds it reminded me that we have more this year than in several years but still not a lot. Something that has never happened before is where one has a nest. I put up a j-hook in the carport which adjoins our bedroom several years ago because my wife wanted to put a wind chime there. It didn't take long for the chime to disappear as it kept us awake at night. I left the hook where it was and this year a hummingbird has build a nest on the hook. I have to be sure to park the car far enough away to keep the little rascal from pooping on the it.

Yeah I watch hummingbird nests on the internet and those babies can really squirt.

   Squirt?   ... Does that mean they foul their own nest?

They stick their butt over the edge and squirt outside the nest.

  When I was a kid, we used to look to get nests full of crow babies..  Why?  ..Because we heard they could be trained to talk! 
  I doubt that was true, anyway we raised several nests..and never got a 'boo' out of them  We also heard they could talk better if we split their tongues..we never went that far..

  We fed them bread & milk...

  One thing sure..they sure did foul their nests !  Time the survivors fledged..the nest looked like a pile of whitewash and axle grease..

Back in my pole climbing days we got loaned out to the telephone co-op, a sister company to the electric co-op, to tear down crow's nests on the phone lines In those bare wire days every so many spans the wire hit a tramposition bracket which switched sides the wire ran on. It was to reduce noise on the line where they were underbuilt on electric poles or do the phoneheads said. It was just a square galvanized gadget with four insulators arranged to keep the wires apart while making the switch. Crows loved them as they were ready made bases for their nests but they also did OK with building a nest on every cross arm between the pole and anchored by the insulators. It was a simple job. Lineman climbs up and tears the nest down and the grunt loaded it on a truck. By tromping them down which we linemen did because of our 16" boots and using handline to secure them going to the dump we could make a day. We got to handle them twice. Tearing down and loading and then unloading. Days and days and miles and miles of this and we were finally done with it. Every afternoon I went in the house the minute I arrived home, tore my clothes off, and jumped in the shower feeling like little bugs were crawling everywhere on me. I never found one single bug in all the times we had to do this.

As to the simple pleasure part of this thread we spent some time on the patio Friday afternoon. It was a nice 101 degrees in the shade but we had a fair breeze and single digit humidity so it wasn't all that hot. The girls as we refer to the three GG daughters that are sisters spent the afternoon with us and the middle one finally wimped out and said it was too hot and went back in the house. Of course the other two followed so my wife and I followed to play referee if if any arguments broke out.

[Ranger99]

I'm always surprised at the
people I talk to that have never
sat out somewhere quiet and
watched a sunrise with a cup
of coffee in hand 
One of the finest free things
you can do with clothes on