HEAD SOUTH

February 15, 2007

HEAD SOUTH

I think our goose has the right idea...HEAD SOUTH! Today Mark called on his way to work and said it was 3 degrees and I needed to get in the car and go around the neighborhood and look at how pretty the ice on the trees is. Then he said on second thought, I'll go get a scraper and we will dig your car out and then drive around the neighborhood and take pictures. I went for that idea.
Here are some shots of what is in our neighborhood. Almost every yard had lost some or all of a tree. There was one yard that you could hardly see the snow for all the branches that were down.

One of the houses is for sale. The back yard has always had a debris pile ...now the front yard has one to match. If you can find any good in all this weather..it is the fact that when the sun shines on the ice hanging in the trees and on the lines it is absolutely beautiful. Like diamonds or crystals sparkling for all they are worth.
I walked out in the backyard to adjust the bird feeder and decided to take some shots of things in our yard. We have been extremely lucky to have only lost one branch...maybe I should knock on wood...we are getting more snow on Friday...I could literally walk on top of the snow.

I was trying to get some really good "National Geographic" shots as Big John calls them when I noticed that we lost a limb in the big oak tree in the back.

It is high up in the tree so I don't think there is any danger of it falling. I'll have Mark and John look at i t later this evening to see what they think. So I guess or limb down total is two now. Lets hope there are no more. When you go out you can hear the trees exploding like gunshots. I remember reading that in one of Gary Paulson's books when Bryce was into us reading those books about the wild.

Walking in I noticed these berries that were on the limb that fell into the driveway. Look at the curve in the icicle..looks like the wind was blowing...kinda like that WI wind.

And one other shot of the backyard which I thought was a little funny. Here is a close up of the frozen burning bush. And we can't forget all the wildlife. I told Mark the other morning that I saw deer tracks in our side yard that lead down to the creek across the street. He looked at me like I was crazy. But this norming he saw then too. See, I'm not crazy! (as some do think). Anyway, here are a couple of pictures that Sarah and I took yesterday when we were trying to keep warm.

The birds are so fun to watch. Now, those squirrels they are just down right brazen..they will sit in the bird feeder and just stare at you while thy are eating as fast as they can. You don't feel right scaring them away. All I know is that we are going to have the most well fed squirrels on the street.

Sarah caught one of the squirrels eating snow for water. I guess when it is so cold and everything is frozen that is what you have to do to survive. Michael wasn't me to put water out in a plastic bowl for them to drink. I think I see a teachable moment....once a teacher, always a teacher.

With a lot of help from Mother Nature the squirrels have finally figured out that they have corn just waiting for the picking. I guess these must be lazy squirrels because they didn't even go near this thing until it touched the ground. The idea behind the bungee is that they have to jump to get it, a bell goes off to alert us and then we are to watch the fun. I guess they outwitted us this time. These three squirrels are so friendly that I guess we are going to have to give them names, just like Chippy in WI. Anyone want to give us a few suggestions? I've got dibs on Larry, Moe and Curly.