Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Wordless Wednesday – in the backyard today.

by 28 Comments

Author: dawnkinster

I'm a long time banker having worked in banks since the age of 17. I took a break when I turned 50 and went back to school. I graduated right when the economy took a turn for the worst and after a year of library work found myself unemployed. I was lucky that my previous bank employer wanted me back. So here I am again, a long time banker. Change is hard.

28 thoughts on “Wordless Wednesday – in the backyard today.”

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  1. Linda Allen
    November 8, 2023 at 4:00 pm

    Retirement affords you opportunities to see cool stuff!

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  2. Dale
    November 8, 2023 at 5:06 pm

    Oh wow…. what great finds in the backyard!

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  3. Terri Webster Schrandt
    November 8, 2023 at 5:20 pm

    Wildlife is putting on a show for you, Dawn! Very cool! That hawk(?) is gorgeous!

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  4. shoreacres
    November 8, 2023 at 6:50 pm

    That last photo of the deer is especially nice; it’s clearly attentive, but not spooked.

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    • dawnkinster
      November 11, 2023 at 11:43 am

      I think the deer around here are pretty much used to us. Though if I were to go outside they’d head off, sometimes running, into the woods. And they are definitely not afraid of the dog. When I camp in the back yard they are always around, snorting at the tent, unhappy I’m in their yard.

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  5. Linda Schaub
    November 8, 2023 at 9:34 pm

    I like when deer study you so carefully – is this friend or foe? Dawn, your Downie is studying the best way possible to reach the treats. The Cooper’s Hawk (I think?) is nervy sitting on the shepherd’s hook with a bird feeder hanging from it. I dislike those hawks. I fed the squirrels and birds in my neighborhood and asked my neighbor if he’d seen the pair of Gray squirrels that I’d been feeding for years – he told me the Cooper’s Hawk was in a tree across the street and was the likely culprit; I felt sick. We have them at Council Point Park as well. I worry about my squirrels with the hawks lurking about.

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    • dawnkinster
      November 11, 2023 at 11:45 am

      I’ve never seen the Cooper’s hawk go after a squirrel but I regularly see him (or her) and a red tailed hawk fly by with something the size of a chipmunk. We did, however, take precautions when Penny was little, just in case.

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      • Linda Schaub
        November 11, 2023 at 10:56 pm

        I guess a chipmunk would be much easier to handle. We have issues with coyotes so homeowners are warned not to put their small dogs outside without supervising them.

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        • dawnkinster
          November 12, 2023 at 3:39 pm

          We have coyotes too. I hear them, but haven’t seen them. Though my sister, last summer, saw one cross the back yard. She told me she saw a big grey dog walk through the yard. We don’t have any big grey dogs in the neighborhood, and no dogs that walk around without their people. I have seen tracks in the snow here too. So they’re around. My neighbor across the street says she regularly sees them come out of the woods and grab one of her chickens. That would freak me out. If we’re outside at night and Penny and before her Katie even LOOKS like there’s something out there in the dark we come inside. If she stands up on her back feet and howls I pick her up and trot inside.

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        • Linda Schaub
          November 12, 2023 at 9:34 pm

          I walk every day at a park which is right in the middle of the City. It goes along a Creek and there’s a woody area, so I see a lot of waterfowl there. A coyote family (parents and one pup) settled in there a few years ago. People only saw them in the early morning or evening as they moved around. But one adult would be always be out walking around in the neighborhood. I live one mile away and walking to the Park, I’d see this coyote strolling along, minding its own business. I imagine dogs sense those coyotes long before we humans would – very scary.

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  7. Barbara Rodgers
    November 9, 2023 at 7:14 am

    What a busy back yard you have. I love the deer photos. I often wonder what they’re thinking of the photographer.

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  8. Debbie
    November 9, 2023 at 10:31 am

    The critters all know Fall is passing into Winter, don’t they? Our squirrels have been exceptionally busy, much to poor Monk’s dismay. So many squirrels to chase — so little daylight to do it in. And how I love that header of Miss Penny in those red leaves. Fall is perfect for Shelties!

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    • dawnkinster
      November 11, 2023 at 11:47 am

      Fall IS perfect for shelties, from their coloring to their heavy coat, they are soooo much happier in the fall and winter! We didn’t have much snow after Penny arrived mid-February last year. I’ll be curious what she thinks of snow if it’s higher than she is. We’ll see. I remember Katie getting stuck after she ran down the deck stairs and the snow was so deep her feet didn’t touch the ground. She did not appreciate me laughing at her.

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  9. annhay1
    November 9, 2023 at 10:40 pm

    Photo #2 is my favorite. 🙂

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    • dawnkinster
      November 11, 2023 at 11:49 am

      I like that one too, the way you have to look for the deer, just like I did, through the leaves that sort of frame him. I wasn’t sure, when I first saw movement back there, whether it was a doe or a buck. We don’t see the bucks in the yard very often. But this was definitely a couple. He was impatiently tearing stuff off of shrubs, looking for something good to eat. She eventually just lay down next to the forsythia bush to wait for him to finish his lunch.

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  10. Robin
    November 10, 2023 at 7:52 am

    You have a beautiful collection of backyard visitors. 🙂

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    • dawnkinster
      November 11, 2023 at 11:50 am

      I do. We are very lucky in our back yard, even though now there’s a house at the end of our property where there used to be woods. That makes me sad. But at least we still have our woods and we planted more trees so eventually maybe we won’t notice the blue-purple house sitting where only trees were for 30 years.

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  12. P.J. Grath
    November 11, 2023 at 12:51 pm

    Your backyard is a paradise!

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