Quail and Tomatoes

I wish I could get photos of the little quail that have been coming in every day to eat some of the left over tomatoes. I never figured quail would eat tomatoes. It is a sight to see when one of them grabs a small cherry tomato and the others chase the one with the tomato. And there are usually other tomatoes out there if they would just look for them. We still have a few of the left over tomatoes that we pulled back when it first froze. Then they were green but they have ripened and most didn't taste to good to us, and then they got over ripe. But the quail don't seem to mind. I have just been putting a few out every day so they don't freeze at night if the birds don't eat them. I haven't seen any of our other birds - sparrows, chick a dees, curved bill thrush, mockingbirds, doves, black birds, red headed house finches - eating the tomatoes. Those birds went after the apples and peaches. I didn't see the quail eating that many apples or peaches. But they sure do like those tomatoes, especially the little cherry ones that they can run away with.

Being Thankful

Thanksgiving will be this Thursday in all of the United States. It is considered one of the biggest holidays here, next to Christmas. It is thought to be a day that the Pilgrims that first came to the United States sat down to eat and celebrate a day of piece between them and the Native Americans that were then called Indians. It was a celebration with lots of food after they had almost staved to death when they had first come. They had learned from the Indians how to live off the land and survive so the Indians had been invited to eat with them.
This year I am doing as many of my friends are doing and each day for a month I will post on facebook or on a blog what I am thankful for. I have seen then done in previous years and could never bring my self to do. But this year I started doing it on Nov. 10 and hope to be able to do it until at least Dec. 10.
It is good to have one day set aside to be thankful on but we need to remember to do it more often than once a year. There are all kinds of things we can be thankful for - from big nice things like the birth of a baby and a wedding or finding the love of our life to small things like hearing a bird sing or the sun shine or a pretty flower.
I hope every one will find something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving but remember to do it more often. If you want do it for a month on Facebook, a blog or post a memo at work, or make a note on a calender.
I will start by saying I am thankful for the readers that read my blog.

Little Butterfly

Fount this little butterfly on one of my flowers the day before it got so cold last weekend. I know he is gone now. I see these off and on but this is first time I have ever been able to get a photo of one. They are only about a half inch in length. Flower was about 2 inches across.

Equines

 Letting the ponies change pens so they can play.

Fall Views

 Some more fall views from the Jemez Creek bridge leading to Gilman. We even saw the apallosa horse in a field. He let us take his photo then went back to eating.

Big Cottonwood Tree

 Lee is standing under a big cottonwood tree that looks like someone tried to chop it down once. But the tree is still alive. On the other side there was a really odd branch that started high up then dropped all the way to the ground and then shot up again. I couldn't get a photo of the whole branch as their was a small evergreen that hid the branch right where it was almost on the ground. So I tried from the other side and there were larger evergreens that hid the tree instead of the branch.

Fall Leaves on Jemez Creek

Cottonwood trees along Jemez Creek. Most had already lost their leaves when we were there last week.

Leaves in My Yard

A few of the leaves in my yard that have turned a little bit since fall is in the air. First two photos are of one of my Bradford pear trees. In the second one you can see the tiny dried seed pods that are left on Bradford pear trees as it is considered an ornamental tree instead of one that has pears for eating. It has beautiful white blossoms in the early spring.

Photos 3 and 4 are of my other Bradford pear tree who seems to have different color leaves and no seed pods.

Apple tree leaves.

Redbud tree leaves.

 Again the second Bradford pear tree a couple of days later when the leaves had turned to a deeper rusty red. This tree is by my front door.

Local Birds

some of the quail that stop by everyday for a drink of water and then go on their way. You can see the one quail going through the slightly larger space in the fence that we cut for them so they don't have to squish through the smaller spaces.

A raven that stopped by to chat with my mare the other day.