Saskatchewan Screamer

January 16, 2022January 16, 2022 / rothpoetry / 33 Comments

Squirrel

The weatherman called it the “Saskatchewan Screamer”! A big weather front moved through the Carolinas today bringing deep snow to the mountains, but only ice and freezing rain to our area. I think it lost all of its scream by the time it got to us. I filled the open bird feeder with lots of seeds and scattered some on the deck as well. The birds loved it and so did the squirrel. I counted at least ten different kinds of birds that came to eat lunch with us today.

Sleet and freezing rain

Squirrel stuffs himself with my seeds

Icicles hang // drip

*

Little birds dropped by for lunch

Crumbs from master squirrel’s table

IMG_8370 (2)

IMG_8374 (2)

Photos: Dwight L. Roth

High Rise Condo

January 8, 2022January 8, 2022 / rothpoetry / 42 Comments

A pair of Squirrels moved into the high-rise condo next door. They are making their nest in the rotting Maple tree at the edge of my back yard. From my window I watch them scurrying up and down and in and out, filling the bottom with sticks and carving out an upper escape route with their teeth.

This used to be the home of a pair of Red Bellied Woodpeckers a few years ago. I watched them as well, as they drilled into the tree with their strong beaks. They only stayed a year and then the squirrels moved in making the hole bigger and bigger each year. When a storm blew off the top of the tree, the deterioration set in and it began to decay rapidly.

This year we will have a nest of baby squirrels who will come looking for seeds at my bird feeder. Seems there is on end to squirrels.

New neighbors move in

rotten High-Rise // a good home

for pesky squirrels

I took these photos this morning. I saw them go up into the tree, so I got my camera and walked out to the tree. While I stood freezing in the yard, they stayed in the tree waiting for me to leave. Finally, they came out and went up the nearby tree and disappeared. They will be back.

Photos; Dwight L. Roth

Oh No!!

January 3, 2022January 4, 2022 / rothpoetry / 69 Comments

IMG_8292 (2)

Seeing our grandson for the first time since before Covid-19 created personal celebration in our minds. He and my son came down from Virginia on the Tuesday after Christmas.

We planned a big turkey dinner and invited our other son and family to join us. All was going well with the preparation. The Turkey was put in a browning bag to bake. Soon after it started baking, my wife realized she had forgotten to put the rack under the turkey to keep it up off the pan.

Carefully we pulled the hot turkey out of the oven. With big oven gloves, I lifted the turkey, and she slid the rack under it, That is when everything went South!

I pushed the broiler pan with the turkey back into the oven. The only problem was I did not push the oven rack back with it!! The turkey and the pan dropped off the back edge of the oven rack and wedged against the oven wall. The bag began to melt into the turkey!

Frantically we retrieved the turkey, moved it onto the sink counter, and we took it out of the melted bag. The heat of the oven wall melted the bag into the turkey’s skin. I carefully cut the damaged skin off the turkey, and we put it into a new browning bag. We were putting it back into the oven just as my son and grandson walked in the door.

Celebration

supersedes cooking faux pas

Foul turkey gobbled!

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Today at d’Verse, Lisa asked us to write a Haibun about some aspect of our holiday celebration. I decided to share one of a few faux pas that occurred over our Christmas celebration.

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com

Clean Slate (haiku)

January 2, 2022January 2, 2022 / rothpoetry / 32 Comments

New Year tide rolls in

Wiping smooth, past year’s worries

Fresh tracks in the sand

***

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Hope for the New Year

December 31, 2021December 31, 2021 / rothpoetry / 38 Comments

DSC_0033 (2)

What a delightful surprise to find my hibiscus blooming this morning. When I opened my garage door and looked out and there it was smiling up at me.

As cold weather set in, I decided to try and save my three small hibiscuses by putting them in a pot and keeping them in the garage all winter. With warm temperatures above normal, I began to set them outside the door. I noticed that a bud was forming. It sat without much change for the past two weeks, and now on the last day of the year it opened into this beautiful flower.

What a message of hope that the beauty of life will go on in 2022!

Hibiscus bloom shines

Defying mid-winter’s chill

Hope for the new year

IMG_8331 (2)

IMG_8328 (2)

Photos: Dwight L. Roth

Running Free

December 29, 2021December 29, 2021 / rothpoetry / 46 Comments

IMG_4503 (3)

I did this painting was for a friend of mine who gave it to her sister for Christmas in 2020. Little did we dream in 2019 that being out and running free would take on a whole new meaning in 2020. When Covid-19 arrived we all began to feel the restriction of freedom as lockdowns occurred all over the world. Many of us stayed at home and only dreamed of getting out and running free once again. We realized how important it is to be able to run free with our family and friends.

Freedom restricted

Running free holds new meaning

When life is at stake

Painting: Dwight L. Roth

Seeing Positive and Negative

December 27, 2021December 28, 2021 / rothpoetry / 47 Comments

IMG_8281 (2)

This beautiful block print was done by my granddaughter and given to us as a Christmas gift. If you look at it, you can see both a positive and negative rose. This is just like life. Sometimes the roses shine bright and are easy to see. Other times they may be dark and harder to see. I believe it is important to understand the relationship between the two.