Some of the Critters this Week

We had just gotten 6 inches of snow when I did my last post.  Yesterday, we got 6 more!  I've been looking out the door to see what kind of critters we have visiting, and taking some photos from inside the door.  My husband is the one who takes care of the feeders.  He has other feeders in different parts of the yard.  He also puts out suet for the woodpeckers, but other birds also eat it.

The photos with the snow coming down were taken yesterday.  I couldn't get a good photo of the bird on the left, but I'm pretty sure it's a woodpecker.  The others are some of the plentiful sparrows.

This photo is not as clear, but more of the beak shows.  After looking up woodpeckers in Nebraska, I'm thinking it's a red-bellied woodpecker.  Do you know if I am correct?

 The blue jays have been around a lot lately.  I also saw a cardinal or two the other day.

There have also been a number of dark-eyed juncos.

We have just gotten to today's photos.  There were quite a few birds and other critters hanging out today.

This morning, before I opened the main door, leaving the screen closed, I counted 4 blue jays.  They all flew off as soon as I opened the door, but this one came back, seeing that I did not open the screen door.  He or she kept a close eye on me, though.  Larry must have just had a bit of seed left, so he put it on this old apron.

The squirrels like to scold Heidi when she goes out, and she has been looking for them when she goes out.  She's not a fan of them.  I am not, either, but I don't dislike them as much as I used to.

I actually dislike rabbits more than I dislike squirrels.  Squirrels dig out plants, and if you find them in time, you can replant.  Rabbits eat things down to the ground.  Sometimes they regrow, and other times they don't.  I wish rabbits would just eat part of the plants, and not the whole things.  This one lives under our deck, and Larry said he saw two the other day.  We all know what that means!  Dang it!  Well, I do have their favorite plants caged so that they can't get to them.  Larry has been teasing me about wanting to get some alfalfa hay for the rabbits.   He said he saw one eating some bird seed the other day.

I counted 4 or 5 doves in the back yard a few days ago.  I really like them, and the sound they make as they fly off, which is made, I think, with their wings.

What kinds of wildlife are you seeing at your place? 

In a few days, our highs are supposed to start getting into the 40s for a couple weeks.  The snow will melt, and the ground should go into garden season in pretty good shape.  I am starting to see some of the posts from places where spring is waking up.  I always enjoy that.  We actually have some early things starting to green up as well, but it will be awhile before we see blooms. 

Still Winter

I was starting to think it's time to change the cover photo, since the snow had all melted.  Well, after temps above normal last week, in the 50s and 60s, winter came back, and it started snowing late morning yesterday, and continued through most of this morning.  I didn't hear the official total, but someone local said they got 6 inches.

Last night, I noticed stems of the cup plant were drooping over the sidewalk, so went out to tie them up so the people delivering the newspaper would have a path to the porch.  I planted it there so that it wouldn't have as many directions to spread, but am thinking that it would have been better farther from the sidewalk.  Still, I'm tickled to have it in the yard, and have seen birds eating the seeds.

This is one of the several bird feeders in the back yard.  We've had doves, juncos, gold finches, sparrows, blue jays, and the occasional cardinal in the back.  There are squirrels aplenty, and there is at least one rabbit that lives under the deck.  My husband, Larry takes care of the feeders, and puts out dried corn for the squirrels, but they still eat from the bird feeders as well.

It is fun for me to see the little piles of snow on things.

The stems of plants are drooping more in this snow, which must be wetter and heavier than some we've had.  I don't clean up the beds until spring, because I like to leave seeds for the birds to eat, and some insects overwinter in the stems.   Plus, I feel there is still beauty in the plants all seasons.

It looks like the sparrows ate the rest of the suet.  The plant on the right is Wild senna. It seems to be more upright than the other one and many of the other plants.

 I took this photo of the junco later in the day than the previous one.  All the other photos were taken in the front yard. 

Some of the seed heads, such as the Illinois bundleflower have little snow hats or crystals on them.

I hope birds eat more of the cup plant seeds before spring gets here.

Wild quinine:

The coneflowers always seem to wear their snow hats cheerfully.

Yes, it looks like it is still winter!

Heidi was disappointed I didn't take her out with me, but I didn't plan on spending much time outside, and did not want to have to dry her off.  Besides, she doesn't really like to be out when it is snowing.

I am glad that I went out and planted a little patch of lettuce, radishes, carrots, and maybe some spinach on one of the nice days.  I used to always plant what I called my gamble garden in February, but lately have started earlier and earlier.  It won't come up until the soil is warm enough.   Sometimes when it is warm enough it is too wet to work, so that 's why I like to get some in early.  Now, it has a nice snow blanket over it.  The summer before last, I planted some lettuce for fall that did not grow large enough to harvest.  It survived the winter, and grew in the spring, so we had a harvest from it after all.

I am so glad the days are getting longer, and spring is on the way!  I hope all is well with you and your gardens.

It's Snowing!

We woke up to a couple inches of snow this morning, and are expecting a couple more.  It's a pretty snow, but I don't think I'll drive in it until the street is plowed.  I have a new camera because my other one's view finder was giving me problems.  I had to jiggle it to see anything, and when an image appeared, it was either backward or upside down.  I am still learning how to use the new one.

I took the front yard photos from the porch, because I didn't want to go outside and risk slipping in the snow.  Larry put something on the lens to protect it, and for some reason, it was showing in today's photos, until I zoomed it out a bit.

I like the manual zoom on my new camera.  

The rest of these were taken from the back door.

There weren't any critter prints yet this morning, other than Heidi's, but they could have been snowed over.

The photos in this post were taken around 8:30 this morning.  I took more a few minutes ago, and was going to show how much more snow we've had, but when I ejected the card and removed it, I got a message that it wasn't removed properly.  Then, my iphoto quit, and I got a message to restart the computer.  I got the message again after I restarted it, so I'm going to have to get Larry's help to see if he can open it again.  I hope he can, because I haven't backed it up lately.

(Added at 1:38:  When Larry looked at the computer, he said it must have been doing something still when I went to turn off iphoto.  That reminded me that it had indeed been doing something, and I went to turn it off before I should have.  He didn't think it looked good, but then said that it appeared to be restoring itself.  Whew!  It didn't even take more than 10 minutes to come back.  I need to be backing up my library.  It had indeed been lost a number of years ago, when I got this computer, and Larry was installing things.  That was heartbreaking, but now that we have the grandsons, and I don't print many photos, I need to take action to avoid losing those.)

So here are a few photos taken later in the day.  I guess it's hard to tell here that a bit more snow had fallen.  It's actually still coming down.  Oh, and I see it's coming heavier than it had been earlier in the day.

I've mentioned we are living in the house where my husband, Larry grew up.  This light pole has been in the spot for many years.

I caught this one of Larry on his way home from the neighbors' where he shovels in exchange for storing his motorcycle in their garage.  I'm thankful for having a garage for my vehicle, and Larry has a car port so he doesn't have to clean snow off of his.

I hope anyone reading this is able to be warm and safe from all of this winter weather.  I feel for those of you in places that don't usually get the ice and such that you have experienced this week.  I am longing for spring. For those who are in the south and enjoying your gardens, I hope to find my way to your blogs to see photos.