It's been a few weeks since I have been to the "
back forty" or the lower part of the yard, so I decided it was a time to take a look. I don't want to get out of the habit of taking
Second Looks around my yard through all parts of the year. There really is something very refreshing about seeing the changes that take place.
We have had rain, snow, ice, and subzero temperatures over the last week or so. Despite the bad weather, the critters have still been out and about. We spotted a pileated woodpecker this week as well as our old faithfuls of the red-bellied and downy woodpeckers. The deer are ever present and the squirrels are occasionally scurrying about. It seems as if bone season could be starting again like it did last winter. I found a groundhog skull, but it was too cold to do much looking for others.
Here are a few things I saw this week during my Second Look.
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| Even though we have had a lot of cold weather and snow, a few pansy blossoms are still hanging on. The snow had just melted from around this one. |
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| The skies have been mostly dark this week, but a little sun still managed to peak through the clouds and light up this tree. |
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| Woodpeckers--Pileated on the left, Red-bellied on the top and Downy on the bottom. |
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| Part of a skull--a groundhog, I think. |
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| No snow this day, so a good day for grazing. |
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| We usually only see one or two cardinals, but this week we saw a flock of them pass through. |
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| This squirrel had just had a treat from a suet cake. |
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| We hadn't seen doves for a few months, but we also saw a flock of them this week. |
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| The skies weren't always cloudy. We had a clear night this night. |
