The View

This is what I should see out the patio doors in back.

What I see right now.

Yes.  The snow is drifted that high.  We had another foot yesterday.  Where is the bird feeder?!

My friend Shannon wants me to stop saying SPRINTER.  Come have a beer on the porch with me.............oh, wait.  lol

I can't say Spring.  THIS isn't Spring, it's insanity.

Oh yeah.... we're expecting another whopper on Monday. 

♫ On the ninth day of Sprinter♫

SPRINTER

Sprinter: an extra season between Winter and Spring in the Northland.  It runs from March 20- May 1 if we're lucky.

Yes weather fans, it's day two of Sprinter, and true to form it is snowing to "beat the band".  That lovely heavy sticky stuff that is going to make drive time a real treat.  Just for giggles the low temps Sat night are going below zero again.  ENOUGH ALREADY!

The Brown Eyed Man is home today, and he sent me this pic from the backyard.

Damn Grey Squirrel.  USE THE SUET FEEDER!  How on earth is he even hanging on?

Here's what we're up to this weekend.......

Just kidding.  I do have a LOT of boxes to burn, so there will be a bonfire.  Other than that, and feeding the birds, I have no plans to stick my nose or any other parts outside! 

Here's a lil ditty for ya! (Yes, I have just about lost it.)

♫ Oh the weather outside is frightful,

    This winter hasn't been delightful

It's leaving here way to slow

   Make it go, make it go, make it go!

It doesn't show signs of stopping,

And my head feels like it's popping.

I'm ready to garden and so,

Make it go, make it go, make it go!

My hopes are slowly dying,

as the snow just keeps on flying.

Tomorrow temps go back below

Make it go, make it go, make it go! ♫

Adventures With Suet

The menagerie (from my last blog) obviously has to be fed.  We have one seed feeder on the Shepard's hook in the yard, and a suet feeder in the "Blue Jay tree".  Since the woodpecker (Downy) likes suet too, I bought another feeder, and some suet that he is supposed to be especially fond of

Now..........where to put the new feeder?  It has corn in it, which the squirrels would like, and I want to encourage those lil darlin's to dine (and live) down in the valley, away from the house.  The issue (cause in the winter it seems there always is one) was the depth of snow down in the valley.  Anywhere I thought would be good was "off trail", so I asked The Brown Eyed Man to come along and help in case I got into a jam.

Apparently that translates into, "Laugh your ass off and take pictures."

Stuck up to my knees in snow, figuring out which branch would be best.

I finally made a decision, but it took several tries to get unstuck and make my way.  Then I realized that the branch I chose wouldn't be reachable when the snow I was standing on melted (in June) so I had better re-assess.

Jacob arrives to offer his assistance.

Stuck

SUCCESS!

Getting stuck wouldn't have been so bad if I had remembered my mittens.  The temps were in the twenties and I had a lot of bird things to carry.  I definitely didn't think that one through.

Stuck up to thighs in snow and it's almost Spring......

If you look behind the lady stuck in the snow you can see the suet feeder hanging from the tree.  At this point my "helper" put the camera away and at least offered some verbal assistance.  So there is no picture of me a few feet forward, having fallen again, sitting on my butt with the dog on my lap.

I think the menagerie will have to survive with one suet feeder until Sprinter (the next season around here) finally gives way to Spring. (June)  Although the creek is high...........we may have a lake instead of a valley.  Oh well.  I like to feed ducks.........

P.S.  At least Downy was at the feeder the next day, so it wasn't fer nuttin.  :)

My Menagerie

I always found it odd that I never, or hardly ever, saw animals or birds when I was "weekending" out in the country.  When I did see them, star nosed shrew, dead mouse in a trap, looooonnnnggg garter snake, wolf, or strange little birds that ran into the window and became Jacob's forever friends, it was usually some sort of incident.  Luckily, the wolf only scared the crap out of me when I saw him staring at me from the edge of the driveway.  Last thing we need is a wolf blog.

When I moved out to the country I put up my bird feeder just before the snow started to blow.

 For two solid months nothing touched it.  Then one day in the cold of January I noticed a trio of chickadees (my favorite birds) had finally found it.  Shortly afterwards two blue jay appeared, and then a downy woodpecker.  It's funny to watch them, because instead of battling for food, they are just like a little family.  Maybe it's because of the cold, and the fact that there wasn't much out there to scavenge for? 

Two weekends ago, with the warm up (FINALLY) we added this cute lil guy.  I call him Chip. (oh yes, they have names.  This has children's book written all over it!) (Yeah, Chip.......original.)

Then later in the week three red squirrels showed up. This one (Lil Red) is always at the feeder, the other two (unnamed as of yet) spend most of their time running all over the snow, across the creek, and up and down the trees.

We also added a grey squirrel this past weekend. (Grey Squirrel for now)

Two more blue jays showed up, and were arguing with Lil Red at the feeder.  I have yet to be able to get a picture of any of the Jays, but they are BEAUTIFUL.  The regulars are "Jack" and "Jill", and the new ones I called Mr. and Mrs. Blue Jay.  

Up above you will also see the most important member of my "crew".  It's Jacob!  He just turned two on March 2nd, and he is really looking for Chip in that picture.   He is loving all the added excitement in the yard.  Especially since the squirrels seem to be living in the big pine in the front yard, which is at the end of his tether, and he can keep a good eye on them!

Milkie seems to be oblivious to anything that goes on outside, which is much different from her life at the apartment.  She likes her own room, and enjoys taunting and ramming around the house with Jake.  They are actually much better pals than I ever hoped they would be!

So that's my menagerie!  I can't wait to see what shows up next. 

Drive By Chicken Butt

Before I tell you what I did last night, you need to know two things.

1. When my youngest brother was about eight it became popular to say CHICKEN BUTT when anyone asked you "What?".  This became way overused in our house. WAY over used.  He will still do that to me to this day, and yes, it's just as annoying.

2. Very often when the Brown Eyed Man is doing something that is irritating me he will say "What?".  I finally started saying "Chicken Butt" back to him, to be a little annoying myself.  "I can't believe you "chicken butted" me!" is what I usually hear.

OH, I guess you need to know three things: (p.s. if you have any idea how to resolve this issue, please chime in.)

3.  For the last month or so I can receive a text from the Brown Eyed Man, but I he does not receive any from me.  It says on the Verizon web page that I'm sending them, but I have seen with my own eyes, they aren't getting to his phone.  I have Verizon (older droid), he has AT&T (Galaxy I think).  His phone is newer, but I was able to text him on it before.

Alright then, on to what happened last night.  We were sitting on the couch watching some drivel on the television, (my shows are being preempted by high school hockey.......don't get me started) and we decided to delete each other from our phones and then re-enter the info, thinking maybe that would work.  OH, now I remember, I couldn't get his attention because he was watching racing, and that's why it happened.

"Your number is 218-390......... what are the last four numbers?" I asked, at least three times.  I waived my hand in front of his face, and got the last four digits.  So I sent him a smart ass CHICKEN BUTT text.  Then I'm looking at my texts, and I see that the new text is in there under Brown Eyed Man, but the other texts are in there under another number.  What?? Then it dawns on me.  I have put in 390, and his number is 391.  I have just sent some random person a CHICKEN BUTT.

I was mortified.  When I finished laughing hysterically, I wiped my eyes and sent another text. OMG I am so sorry, I put in the wrong phone number!  We laughed some more when I said, can you imagine getting a drive by CHICKEN BUTT text?!  An hour later I received a reply, "LOL no problem".  Whew.  Someone with a sense of humor.  Then another minute of uncontrollable laughter. 

Cheezits...........

Annoyingly Beautiful

I think that "annoyingly beautiful" is the best way to describe this winter.  If you follow my blog you know that last spring (Sprinter is what I call it.) we had several BIG snow storms, the last of which was the first part of May.  Yes, May.  I thought we had it bad.  I thought it was the worst we could see.  I was wrong.

Lets see, this year it started snowing at the end of November, then we had a big storm the first of December.  After that it pretty much snowed several inches every few days.  I believe the number was 21 days of snow during the month of December.  Then the cold settled in from the arctic, and just decided to stay.  They call it the "Polar Vortex".  That's funny, we deal with it every winter, but because it affected the East Coast and some Southern states, it got a name.

This winter has the distinction of being:

 1. The winter with the most consecutive days below zero. (ever)
 2. The winter with the most total days below zero. (and we are still adding to that)
3. THE coldest winter EVER.  We are currently at #2.

In short, it has been miserable.  Even people who are snow lovers have had it, because it's too cold to enjoy the five feet we have.  No, I'm not exaggerating.  There are spots in the back yard where it is that deep.  I can not safely go down to the valley to the bonfire area.  We were going to have an outing last Saturday to blaze a trail, but it was just too damn cold. Fed the birds Sunday and because of the cold the trail I blazed last week is at least solid now.........so there's that.........

Top of one of the Adirondack chairs by the fire pit, in the valley.

Two weeks ago we had two days that got up to 40 degrees, and that was the first melt we had.  Felt great until I noticed water running down the furnace pipe onto the furnace.  We spent two hours outside that evening. (it was a gorgeous starry night, and I did spend time laying in the snow looking up at them.........maybe I fell there.......but only the dog knows for sure)  I was support staff while The Brown Eyed Man used the brand new roof rake and cleared off that area of the roof.  He took the next afternoon off and worked on more of it.  Then two days later we had a huge storm with almost two feet of snow.  The roof filled in, and the furnace went out because the chimney became clogged.

We don't own a long ladder.  The Brown Eyed Man has lived out here for twenty years, ten of them in this house, and has NEVER had to shovel off the roof.  We always have periods of slightly warmer days to handle the snow, but that has only happened the one time. (see above paragraph)  So at 7:30 in the morning, after the storm subsided, he put a piece of cardboard on a snowdrift, put a ladder on top, and up he went.

He shoveled for two hours straight, and when he dropped the shovel (twice) I just grabbed it and climbed up the five foot snowbank in the front and handed it back. 

Tonight as I head home from work it will be my last "death drive in the dark".  I have had some interesting things happen, but haven't had an accident (knock on wood) yet.  The time change comes on Sat night and we can all spring forward into the first week of Sprinter, cause we ain't gonna see Spring round these parts til June.

P.S. I got my first pair of Wellies (rain boots) this week, in preparation for the coming floods!  They are red, and they are fabulous!