Neighbors coming and going at the lake!

It looks like we have new neighbors moving into a tree at the very edge of our property, out by the mailbox.  Pileated woodpeckers mate for life and they are the largest forest bird in the United States.  The male begins excavating the nest cavity and does most of the work, and he starts in mid-March.  This may be a nest, or if not, a mother-load of insects were found in this tree.  We shall see as the nesting season progresses.  Most of the insect hunting holes have not been nearly this extensive, so I think this may be the beginning of a nest.

Here's the wood chips at the bottom of the tree:

And the two holes way up in the tree:

We are delighted to have them if they turn out to be new neighbors, as we have just had a neighbor on the other end of our property move out.  The ice fishing shanty that was out on the lake was moved away today. Another sign spring is coming!  I was going to go out there and talk to the fishermen, and ask if they had caught any fish, but with my pneumonia this winter, I didn't go, and now they are gone.  

My trip to Florida did the trick, and my pneumonia is much better.  Plus, while gone, I finished three redwork blocks for the 64 block redwork quilt.  I am nearing half-way!

Here are the three new blocks:

I'm almost finished with the turkey feathers.  The turkey was fun to do, and I added it to the quilt because Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.   There was a discussion on Facebook this week about "Turkey Red" and the dye process. While I was working on this block, I thought......This guy is the supreme example of the reason it should be called turkey red!   Right?

I will be gone this weekend to Chicago to watch basketball.  The Big Ten Basketball Tournament is something hubby and I enjoy every year, as we are both basketball fans.  So no matter what team wins, we enjoy all of the games. 

Then we will be back home for March Madness, when all the basketball games are played all over the country.  When I return home, I will hopefully have more redwork squares to show you.