......Snow and Cold

It's been very cold here...just ask...

granddaughter Alivia!

Our last snow storm left the ground

and the porches deep in snow...

~

The birds come continuously to the

back porch looking for seeds.

Sometimes there are twenty Cardinals

at one feeder alone!

(enlarge to count)


One day after filling the feeder

with sunflower seeds....

I walked down the drive to meet Alivia.

From this angle...
the drive looks worse than it is.





Alivia found the drive
easy enough to navigate...
first down hill....





and then up the other side...
making it look easy...






until...
with the snow...
she did collide.







On farther down...
she was fooling around...






and again...
found herself....back on the ground.








She wanted to sit...
on this bench covered with snow...





and...until I sat down too....
wouldn't agree to go!





When she did leave...

it was only.....
to lay down in the snow.

I just followed...
wherever she led...
I would just go!

She discovered a maze....

Grampa's tire tracks...

he left in the snow!

Then on to the icicles

from the roof hanging low...

then off to show Grampa.....

around to the basement below.

Quickly...I called her back...

after taking this photo...

I then...let her go!

She wasn't inside...very long at all...

she sat down for this photo...

it wasn't a fall!

We walked on the path....

often.... she would run....

even laying down...

sometimes just for fun.

When asked...

if we could visit the creek...

I had to decline...

the side of the hill is way too steep

.....a perilous incline!

Then off she ran...

to go inside...

Then she slipped...

fell on her backside!

But...

not to fear...

she managed to slide!

But...

after loosing a glove...

those cold little fingers...

she could hardly bend.

With that.....I grasped.....

the good excuse to go in!

~

Six to eight inches

are expected over night...

We could possibly...

be snowed in....

if that predition...

turns out right!

A Junco, Titmouse, Cardinal, & Downy

Slippery Slopes & Feasts

Here...it snowed less than predicted...

but still...my back porch was white...

First thing that morning...

I went out for a long walk.

All the trees out back

were accented

with streaks of white

on their northern sides...

giving the woods a faded appearance.

I wondered to the field...

where the Bamboo

underneath the large Tulip tree

was bowing from the snow...

laying low!

I made my way into the woods and

toward the creek...

it was extremely quiet and still.

On top of this hill

I stood....

looking down a slippery slope

to the creek far below.

Note the hole in the log on the right.



This is the scene
through that hole.






Standing by that log...
getting ready to go down that
slippery slope.






I made it to the creek bed...
where patches of water showed through...




making the only noise there!

Looking around for any movement...







all I found was a print
from an earlier passerby.





I followed those prints...
possibly a fox...
up and over this fallen tree...






I came upon
the faintest spot of blood...

(enlarges)



and then...

discovered a disturbance

in the snow...maybe the fox

pulled something from the ground.

But, I don't really know.

But, I did know....I was going home.

Sooo...back up the slippery slope.

At the top of the hill...you can see

there is another hill in front of me.

It's the hill the house sits on.

I can go down this side and up that side...

or I can turn left and

head for the field...

(enlarge to see faint outline of house)

~

and end up...back where I started...

but on the opposite side...
of the Bamboo trees.

These snowballs are attached...

it seems they were made...

by the wind...

blowing the Bamboo's branches...

back and forth...

first to it's left...

and then to it's right.

At least...

that's what I think I know...

~

and I go home...

...in time to see
three Cardinals and a Towhee

feasting at the sunflower seeds...

and feasting

Sparrows, Goldfinches...
a Junco, and Wren...

plus...

a lone European Starling
patiently waiting his feast.

I then went in...

to make a feast myself...

of a spicy shrimp stir fry

with penne and red peppers...

and...
cornbread baked in an old iron skillet...

I was trying to duplicate

a restaurant meal...

once had by

my granddaughter Amanda!

Did I succeed?.....I don't know!

But...

I do know...

the sunrise this morning

looked promising !!!