Oh No ! Not Again!

That might be the heading I would give to my friends up in Canada who got yet more snow this past weekend. But actually it is there because of the news my husband woke me up with this morning: Henrietta has a companion! A very large red rooster is what he told me. But when I got out there, it was large and red but not a rooster. (Sorry, MOTH is a city boy). It had beautiful red feathers and was more like a Rhode Island Red.

I didn't even wait to take a photograph because large chickens make large messes. My neighbor came and got it right away, but I don't have too much faith that that is the last we will see of it. It looked as if it had been tethered by the leg. There was a piece of string or something hanging off one of its legs. Henrietta had the sense to stay hidden while the neighbor was here. Then she calmly came out of the bushes to take a dust bath in one of my planters this afternoon.

All the white crowned sparrows have quite suddenly disappeared. I suppose they have moved further north. Where ever they have gone they will undoubtedly be the chubbiest birds in their area after eating all my sunflower seed all winter, not to mention taking many baths in my waterfall. -- and I might add -- making sure their underparts were washed clean, by standing with their rear ends under the water flow!

Now that they have gone, the house sparrows have turned out in full force, along with the house finches. The white crowned sparrows are a little larger and somewhat bully-ish so the other birds are more bold now that they've gone.

Hawaiian Hide-Away
I finally manged to do another ATC. Haven't felt much like drawing for a while. Must try to do a couple more before we go up to Boise. I had difficulty posting this one but I THINK I've fixed the problem.

Someone asked what ATC's are. Well, I'm not an authority but this is what I know. ATC stands for Art Trading Cards. Most people make them with different kinds of fabric, paints and other media. Also most people make them in order to trade them with other collectors. However I do neither of these things. I'm not into trading and I use only Prisma Colors, pen and ink or water colors. So may be mine are not true ATC's The thing that distinguishes these from other art works is that they are done on a piece of card approximately
2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches. I like doing these because I can usually finish one in an evening.