Forsythia

Woodpecker

Not too much work has done on this side of the house.  What is here, was here.  The purple lilac tree on the left was a well established bush when we moved in.  We didn't have many flowers because it hadn't been pruned in some time.  After tending the spent flowers for couple of years, the bush is filled with flowers in the spring.  And doesn't it look pretty in the summer?  Nice and full.  The chickadees and finches love to hide in the branches.  

The second lilac bush on this side was a new bush when we moved in.  It's coming along very nicely.  I'll be pruning it down in the fall so that we can see out of our kitchen window again.  I'll also be pruning the forsythia that sits between the two lilac bushes.  That bush is totally obliterating the view from the dining nook.  The bush was a twig for two years.  I thought we'd have to pull it, but finally it took off, and this year it sent up those enormous shoots you see.  Even though I'm going to trim to the base of the window, it should still bring a glory of yellow next spring.

John is a bird fancier and has scattered bird feeders all around the house.  Most of them end up gorging themselves that the feeders that hang from the arbor you can just make out in the last picture.  I've never seen so many different kinds of birds in one spot before.  They have John's feeding ritual down to a science.  They know when he's going to be there in the morning and after watching them, you would swear that they were all in a mad rush to try and get the best seeds.  They are great fun to watch and make wonderful toys for our 16 cats.

Purple Lilac

Chickadee