Yet More Winter

Another image from our recent punch of bitterly cold weather this February: An icicle hanging from the eave of our front porch after the most recent snowstorm. This one’s about a foot long.

Winter Update

The forest behind our house
is looking pretty wintry

Snow flurries today. It’s like being inside of a snow-globe – big flakes swirling around. Cold, too. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Christmas 2014

Woke up Christmas morning to discover that with the temperature outside in the low 30s,  the central heat had stopped working. Completely. This is pretty unusual because, like many people who live in rural areas, we have a propane furnace to back up our heat pump when it misbehaves, which is often. In this case, though, both systems were dead. I was able to reach our heating guy by phone, but I didn’t want to pay him the holiday charge ($300), so we made an appointment for him to come the next day. Meanwhile, I got out a couple of small space heaters and plugged them in, we built a fire in the fireplace, and we closed doors to non-crucial rooms upstairs and down. By doing all that, and stoking the fire throughout the day, we were able to keep the living quarters at a reasonably comfortable 65 degrees well into the evening. Wearing three layers of clothes is remarkably effective, too. (From time to time I thought of that scene in “Dr. Zhivago,” when assorted poor people have moved into the Zhivagos’ house in Moscow, and they’re burning the furniture for heat during the bitterly cold winter.)

Christmas Day is exhausting if you’re Violet

Because of all the fun and excitement checking out electrical circuits, fuse boxes and such, we didn’t get around to opening presents until noon. At our house, opening presents on Christmas day is all about the dogs, who act like 2-year-olds and have to “unwrap” every single present with their toothy snouts, only to get on to the next present as quickly as possible. So we did that, and then we cooked a full Christmas dinner for the first time in our remodeled kitchen – the one with the KitchenAid wall ovens and the six-burner Thermador stovetop. Everything worked perfectly, and around 5 p.m. we dined on juicy roast turkey with gravy and stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans and of course cranberry sauce, with Mrs. SR013’s homemade ginger cookies for dessert. We watched “Sense and Sensibility” for the 46th time (still teared up at the end, when Emma Thompson finds out Hugh Grant isn’t married), then went to bed.

The next morning there was frost on the ground and the house was, well, chilly. Seven deer wandered (actually, “moze-eed” would probably better describe their behavior) across the barren area we recently had cleared in the woods behind our house. This would be the two does and their five yearling offspring, now pretty hefty, who live in the neighborhood forest. At about noon, the heating guy showed up and fixed the furnace with $10 fuse that had burned out. I can’t think of any movie reference that’s appropriate for that.

Tree Work

We’re having about 1/4 acre cleared in the woods behind our house. Today the crew came to do step one – cut down the trees, most of which were little more than saplings. Step 2 will involve taking out and grinding the stumps, and Step 3 will be leveling the ground and planting grass seed.

A few hours ago this was a dense patch
of small trees

It’s a lot of work, obviously. Our goal is to keep and feature several oak trees that were growing in the middle of this patch of woods. They’re hard to see in this photo, but they’re marked by orange ribbons tied around them. Late fall is a good time to get this work done because there are no birds nesting, and the area is still free of treacherous snow and ice.

Crazy Birds

Song Sparrow

We’ve had some interesting avian activity here this spring. A song sparrow has repeatedly visited a highly reflecting trashcan on our lower patio, pecking at it and fluttering around it day after day. Perhaps it sees its reflection in the surface of the can – or the image of some rival.

Meanwhile, a cardinal has come to the bathroom window and pecked at it and flown against it dozens of times. Perhaps it sees its reflection in the glass – or has just taken a liking to the look of the bathroom inside.

Past experience tells me that these are immature birds whose hormones are pumping but who don’t have fully-formed, appropriate adult behavior to go with it. At any rate, it’s entertaining.

Violet, Pilot, P-Pie

Violet finding a way to stay warm during our cold snap

Winter Weather

Powdery snow on the magnolia

“In them old cotton fields back home…” No, wait. This is a picture of snow that accumulated on our magnolia tree over the weekend.

SnowRay

Supreme happiness

It’s snowing again today, which as far as Ray is concerned is the best thing that could ever happen. When there’s snow on the ground, he runs out into it and sometimes jumps up and down on his back legs like a pogo stick. Then he rolls in it. Then he gets up, shakes himself off – and rolls in it again.

It’s hard to figure if this is primitive wolf behavior surfacing, or what. He’s an Australian shepherd, after all – maybe from some part of Australia where they get a lot of snow?

Click on the pic to enlarge it, then click to enlarge it again, and check out the expression on his face.

Snow

Overnight the forest behind our house was transformed (click to enlarge).

It’s early for snow here in southern Ohio; the National Weather Service says the average date for the first measurable snowfall of the year is Dec. 14. Nevertheless, this is the second snowfall for us this year. Another inch or so is on the way tonight.

The First Fire of the Season

October 17, 2013. Temperatures are heading into the high 20s later this week.