Blue Bird on Feeder

As I sit here in front of the glass
that looks out onto my back yard
teeming with birds of every kind
all visiting the feeders that I keep supplied
with food for them and the squirrels too
although for them uninvited guests
do help themselves whenever they want
only driven by the dogs who bark and chase
them back aloft where they sit and wait
and scold the dogs and chatter away
as though to say, “Go away, Go away”.

Squirrel

This battle goes on a daily basis
and sometimes the dogs manage to chase
the squirrels out of the yard by following them
and barking hard, loud enough that the squirrels decide
to leave where it is quieter but not for good
as the feeders supply them with plenty of food.

Sometimes the rats at night do raid
the feeders for they have found
easy pickings to help their insatiable need
for food of every kind and size.

Racoons or also troublesome too
and with them they are big enough
that damage to the feeders they cause
in their effort to get to the seed inside.

I have seen the feeders bent in two
or dragged up on the roof askew
in their attempts to get to the seed inside
and any method they know will try.

Today it is raining and is cold and wet
not the day to adventure out to work
in the yard as Lord only knows
there is plenty to do now the frost
has touched everything with its icy blast

Frost Damage

Several days will be needed to clear the yard
of all of dead growth frozen hard
but that is OK as out with the old
Nature will spring into life and will grow
new where the old no longer resides.

Together this is an amazing thing
as the cycle of life continues on
each year singing the same old tune
out with the old and in with the new.

Thank goodness that nature knows what to do
as we would be in trouble if she forgot
and decided that this year she had enough
and was no longer going to supply us with new.

I guess I will sit inside and look
out on the yard and watch things unfold
as the birds squabble over what feeder to pick
although the one right next door
would do the trick but no, that’s not the right one
so it seems as the birds fight over on which one to perch.

Winter Snow Scene

The one thing I am real grateful for
that here in my part of Texas
really bad weather is not usually on call
at least of snow and freezing rain
and winter to us is remarkably short
and will start to warm up in about a month
and things will be growing all over again.

We need the rain Lord only knows
as we have not had any amount
of rain in a couple of years
and drought conditions persist throughout.

Wildfires will a worry be
as things continue to be dry
no burning of refuse is allowed
which means on the compost heap will I
have to stack all of the stuff
from my garden that I cut
and the compost heap already high
will then reach up to the sky.

But worry not for with the spring
the garden I will need to mulch
and with the heap that I already have
should have enough to cover all.