Squirrels, squirrels, everywhere

This post was originally going to be about how (im)patiently I'm waiting for the American Goldfinches to show up in my backyard. But when I downloaded the pictures from my camera I realized I'd mostly taken pictures of squirrels. Well, not having any goldfinches to photograph may be one reason. But the other is that on that particular beautiful winter day, the squirrels were all over the place. I usually barely tolerate these guys. They get into everything and there are WAY too many of them. But that day the weather had me in a cheerful mood and I allowed myself to have a little fun with them.

Below you can see the lonely little goldfinch feeder just waiting for some activity. My friend across town has already seen the little winged ones but I haven't. One of the owners of the Wild Bird Center where I shop for bird seed said that this mix of sunflower seed hearts and niger seed is a good way to start with them. Last year I had so many that by March I was almost sick of them (and they were getting to be very expensive!). But now of course, I can't wait to see them again.

I've also just realized that today is Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. The weather was not very conducive to photography but maybe after the freezing rain passes tomorrow I'll get out there and take some pics. But just so I can show at least one bloom today, here's a photo of some plants in my pop-up greenhouse and the geraniums in there that are still going strong.