Think Spring!!

Mid-January and our faithful Gerber Daisy is rewarding us with sign of things to come...

Slow But Steady

 My anniversary Amaryllis, which I planted on 12-22-2017, is sure in no hurry to make it's appearance.

It took about one month before there were any signs of life.  There's about 1" of growth poking through.  Perhaps, now that it's started we'll see better results.

Diner Time At The Holly Bushes

Here are a handful of pics showing the Robins and Waxwings gorging themselves on Holly berries -

Visiting Cedar Waxwings

Here's a handsome shot of a Cedar waxwing perched in our Dogwood tree.

We had oodles of them on Monday, along with oodles of Robins, all vying for the deep red berries from our Holly bushes.

Although, skittish frequently darting in to grab a berry and then off, collectively the birds have done a pretty good job removing and devouring the berries.

Since we're on the subject, did you know that only female Holly bushes produce berries?!

A Family Affair

Before the extreme cold set in the deer were frequent visitors to our leaf compost pile and the abutting neighbors arborvitae trees.

The arborvitae trees have look funny for several year now.  They're bald as can be from about 5 feet high and down to the ground.  Everything 5' and above is foliage, nice and dark green.  You see the deer have eaten all the greenage 5' and below - they can't reach any higher.  Ah, however, that's changed with the recent snow storm.  It was a heavy and wet snow that weighed the tops of the arborvitae down to where the deer, even the youngsters, could reach.  Today's there not much greenage remaining.

This youngster is atop the leaf pile -

Here mother and daughter enjoying some now reachable arborvitae -

Oops, I've been spotted -

Mother and two youngster daughters lying down resting -

Bang Bang, Bang Bang. etc.

Here's a Northern Flicker, a member of the woodpecker family, foraging in the knot hole of this Boxelder tree.

It's my understanding that the Northern Flicker is one of the few woodpecker species that migrate.  Someone might want to clue this dude in, it's a cold - brrrrrrr - one this winter.

Bottle Caps

I started and completed this 1000 piece puzzle while watching the final weekend of footballs regular season.  First puzzle I've done in a couple years.  Think I'll start another soon.

Braided Cookie, Yum!

JoAnne baked Koulourakia (Greek Easter cookies) for Christmas.  She used my mothers recipe.  It was her first time making them and they were delicious!

The aroma reminded me so much of my mother and brought me back in time.

Merry Christmas 2017

Our awesome 2017 Christmas tree!

I Have My Very Own Stalker...

and her name is Ms. Lucy!

That's me in the red flannel all the way across the street from Ms. Lucy.  I was out working in the yard, putting the final pieces and parts in place for the long winter.  Ms. Lucy was keeping a close watchful eye.

It wasn't too long ago that I had a different kind of stalker.  A pre-teen from the same family as Ms. Lucy.  This lad was gunning for me, literally! He was wanting to shot me with a paintball gun SO bad.  I had to watch over my shoulder whenever I ventured out in the yard.  Fortunately, that's all behind me.  I think I still have a weld in my chest, right between my breast bones, but it's over.

I much prefer the safety of Ms. Lucy watching out for me.

Sooie! Sooie!

The pigs sure do love their grain!

However, they also have a sweet tooth and always jockey for position when the day old bakery items arrive.  I think donuts are their favorites.  Weird, mine too!

Too many to count, oodles!

Sit! Good Cow.

Here's a unique site and not something you see very often.  A Hereford cow sitting like a dog!  This elderly lady had a full belly and basking in the sun.  It was a very cold day, single digits, when I visited my farmer friend.  She was as content as content can be.

There's No Hiding With Fresh Snow

Some random animal tracks in the dusting of snow we had several weeks ago.  I took these while visiting my farmer friend just before Christmas.

Fox -

Rabbit -

Turkey -

Always interesting to get a peak at what wild critters are lurking about.

Rodent Bath Time

Oliver and Trixie had a bath the other day.  Neither were happy about it but they sure do smell so much better!

Good Dog!

Speaks for itself!

Thank You Santa!

Santa arrived early at the office and brought me two, brandy-new 27" displays for my desk, replacing an older 19" display

Before Santa -

After Santa -

Not too much desk space left but boy am I more efficient!

Hard-Disk Drive Failure, UGH!

Hi Folks, I'm back!

Back on December 10 our home computer crashed with a Hard-disk drive failure! 

There was no saving it, nor the data.  I had a backup from February but all data and pic afterwards are sadly gone.  I was offline as I waited for a new hard-drive to arrive, then the time to install and get the OS back up and running.

Good news is I'm back!