Ramblings of a rural(ish) geek

The birdseed in the feeders lasts a lot longer if I bring the feeders in at night when there's snow on the ground. The deer leave the feeders alone as long as there's no snow, but as soon as there's snow on the ground, they go after the easy stuff.

The birds haven't been eating much, largely because it's been windy and precipitating, and I think the hawk has been hanging around -- I've seen him quite often in the last week and a half, and SR saw him hunkered down under one of the evergreens today.

Hey, it's snowing outside!
-Um, dude, it's February and Michigan, what do you expect?
Well, we're at 12" and counting.
-Erm, that's a bit much, don't you think?

Actual snow depth is hard to gauge, as it's the really fine stuff that drifts at the slightest breeze, and we've been getting some pretty stiff winds. I cleared a couple of inches off the side porch when I went out to feed the birds at 830am, cleared another couple of inches off when we got home from church, and cleared ~4inches off at 3pm. J and the kids went out to shovel just before dark (there were some 14" drifts!), and 3 hours later the driveway is pretty much drifted full. DB has no school tomorrow, and Farmington has cancelled as well, so I don't have anywhere I need to be tomorrow. SR tells me that there's a Nixie alert -- Snow Condition Yellow (traffic is moving at reduced speeds with major highways being maintained in fair condition, but local roads may become impassable) -- for the county (one of her friends gets them). I would not be surprised if there was no school on Tuesday either, as the local roads won't get plowed until tomorrow afternoon, and I suspect that they may fill right back up again.

Church today was an exercise in flexibility. Pianist out due to oral surgery a week ago plus snow, lead soprano out due to travel and snow, liturgist dealing with a family emergency in K'zoo. So we did an abbreviated service, which meant just as much singing but all at one time, at both ends of my range (the minister is a trained lyric soprano, and so has a range about an octave bigger than mine); then J and I did Let us Break Bread Together for communion. Then we all went home.

In bird news, SR and J saw a bluebird and his girl in the backyard yesterday. I was under the impression that they did not winter over, but this one didn't get the memo. Today SR and I counted 6 male cardinals and at least as many females -- the males really stand out while it's snowing. I am not looking forward to blazing a trail out to the birdfeeders in the morning.

The tree is up, and finally decorated. It's been up since Thanksgiving weekend, but we've been so busy that we didn't get any ornaments on it until last Sunday it's a family thing). We had to replace the top strand of lights, so I got some warm white LED strands from Meijer. They look very much like the lights the tree came with -- you can really only tell if you stand right next to the tree and look closely.

Holiday performances are over, other than church stuff. DB is working with the kids on the Pageant and providing some narration; J will be working sound for it. My only obligation that day is to be at both services and sing with the choir in the 'everybody' sing portion. Christmas Eve is barisax in the praise band, flute on Silent Night, soprano in the choir and (maybe) song leader on the hymns the praise band isn't playing. DB will be singing a duet with RS, and joining the choir for our piece.

We had kidpix taken last weekend. DB was being very silly, and it was hard to find even a couple of pictures where they both had decent expressions on their faces. Sigh. Those pics won't be back until the weekend after Christmas, so I have a bit of time before I need to start the Christmas letter. :)

The squirrels figured out how to get into the seed bell, so I've had to rearrange feeders a bit, but the woodpeckers don't seem to mind much. I've seen all four of them at the new bell today, as well as nuthatches and tufted titmice.

Yesterday's bird sighting was a Baltimore Oriole in the lilac in the front yard (and of course the camera is in the den in the back of the house, so no picture). He appears every year, but never sticks around, probably because we don't have much for him to eat other than seeds -- the hummingbird feeders are usually busy with hummers, although they do have perches. I put some apples out, but I don't know if they'll attract anything but ants.

I think there's a leak in the pond -- we've been getting rain often enough that I haven't had to fill it very often. The little tete-a-tete daffodils are blooming in the E garden, and there are flowers on the strawberries. The flowers on the crabapple are beginning to pop, and the forsythia pretty much skipped flowering this season, and is mostly leafed out. There are lots of buds on the peonies, and I have hopes of a good showing this year. (I've had hopes every year, but we've had poorly timed rains and/or heat waves....)

it's 65F, so I've opened some of the windows. Still no froggies, though they're quite vociferous down by the freeway. Some of the giant crocus in the side flowerbed bloomed yesterday, as did a couple of clumps of reticulated iris in the East bed. J put the pump into the pond last weekend, and the birds are quite appreciative. The finches are still mostly in their winter colors, although the house finches are beginning to show a bit more color.

Last Friday, DB and I and a friend of his from school went to EMU to see their staging of To Kill a Mockingbird. I was somewhat underimpressed, and I think it's because the guy playing Atticus Finch was playing Gregory Peck playing Atticus Finch.... He wants to go back and see it with a different friend. I think I'll just drop him at the door and go do errands. I don't really need to see it again.

(also, as DB points out: snow is cold, water is wet, new socks on hardwood floors are slippy.)

I wonder how much flak the school is going to take for having a normal school day today? Last week, they were taking some for cancelling at 0530 ('too late!' people said). Never mind that at 5am the snow seemed to have been just about done at 2-2.5" of new stuff, with a slowing snowfall rate. About 0630 it started snowing harder and a wind came up, but by that time most of the buses were already on the road. Currently (1045), there's at least 5" of new snow (still falling) and it's drifting.

The trail out to the birdfeeders is completely buried again, and I stepped completely off it and went in to my knees a couple of times this morning. The snowpack in the backyard ranges from 18"-30" deep, depending on the drift -- the snow is level with the birdbath (on a 30" pedestal), and the tops of the hanging feeders are at mid-chest, which makes them really easy to fill. (The hooks they're hanging from are on a 6' upright....) I had to actually shovel the side porch -- the snow piles around it are too deep to just shove it off.

I was thwarted in my plans for the workroom yesterday. Anna-kitteh decided that what I really needed to do was pay attention to her. She will not be ignored, and shoves her head under my hand. So I paid attention to her. I did eventually get some sorting done, put fabric away and pulled other fabrics out. I have need of a new twill jacket, and a Halloween costume for the FCB concert.

Trimmed back the spent larkspur, and discovered a third flush. There's another wave of poppies, too. I trimmed back some of the sea holly, but got tired of being poked -- I may go out there this morning with long sleeves and gloves. I realised that the NE garden isn't really 'full-sun' -- it gets quite a bit of shade in the early-mid afternoon, which may explain why the volunteer milkweed is a little bit wobbly. I need to cut back the blackberry lilies before the seeds drop. There are quite enough of them in that garden already.... One of the stonecrops I planted last year is getting ready to bloom, while the other seems content with just growing, and may bloom next year.

DB had his first before-school rehearsal yesterday. And I think we need to adjust the schedule on those days a bit so we can leave a bit earlier than we did. Or maybe we just need to do it a few more times.

I have decided that I really need to get myself a camera. Doesn't need to have bells-n-whistles, just a decent camera that I can use indoors and out (birds, cats, projects). The last camera I used on a regular basis was a Pentax K-1000 :), so I'm a little out of the loop on cameras. Any suggestions?

That's the third bird into the sliding door this morning. Guess I'll be stopping by the bird store this weekend. Meanwhile, I'll roll the awning out a little to keep the reflection down --I like the light, but I don't like stunned birds.