Snow Day

Every once in a while, there is enough snow that my library is closed and I don't have to go to work. Today is one of those days. So what have I done with my extra time? A little of this and a little of that and a lot of nothing. It's been a great day.

My Snow Day

It started snowing this morning and is still going. Before it's all done, we should have over 8".

My day began with the determination to get a lot done.  I started with the laundry.

Next, I was going to work on taxes. However, I was distracted by the birds outside.

Ward, who was teleworking today, turned his chair around so he could see out the window

Then we were both distracted by a squirrel on the main bird feeder. This is the first time we've had a squirrel on this feeder since we put up the cone-shaped baffle. I hope this is a fluke of the extra snow height that it had to jump from.

Now back to the taxes. I was almost to the tax papers when I passed by my library book and thought there wouldn't be any harm reading a few pages.

Then Ward called and asked what this crested bird was. I told him it was a tufted titmouse.

Along about now, I was starting to get hungry. I thought I couldn't concentrate properly on the taxes if I were hungry. So after a snack, I made some spinach lasagna.

In the meantime, Ward was tired of sitting and decided to do some shoveling.

It will be dark soon, so I've decided the best use of my time would be a to do a little more bird watching. I'll work on the taxes after the sun goes down.

A Second Look--March 4, 2015

Sunday, we canceled our planned activities and spent the whole day indoors because of an ice storm. Even though we didn't go out, once again we enjoyed the show the birds and critters provided. Along about the middle of the afternoon, what did to my wondering eyes appear? A pileated woodpecker!
She was noshing on a suet cake with all of her beauty and grandeur. Although we see other woodpeckers in abundance, we only see a pileated one about once or twice a year. I was excited to say the least.

Here are a few things I saw this week

during a Second Look.

Sunday morning began with snow and turned to sleet and freezing rain in the afternoon.

We always see plenty of juncos around the area of feeder.

But what we hadn't noticed until last weekend was the huge littering of sunflower seed shells under the patio table. Apparently, the juncos have been getting seeds from the feeder and going under the table to eat them.

The suet disappears a lot faster when the squirrels are eating than when the birds are.

On the left is the pileated woodpecker that visited. As soon as she left, a male downy woodpecker (right) flew in. Downy woodpeckers are the most common kind we see at the feeder. Notice how much bigger the pileated one is.

This is the pileated taking off just before the downy flew in. The pileateds are known for the white under their wings which is very evident here. I also find it interesting that, even with that big wing flap, her toes are still anchored to the feeder.

Thankful Sunday--March 1, 2015

I am thankful Spring is only 20 days away.

A sign of Spring in years past.

No signs of Spring yet except on the calendar, but it never fails to show up. And for that I am thankful (and hopeful).

Time for a smart phone?

Technology has passed us by.

For several days this week our Triple Play wasn't working. That's advertising-speak to say that our TV, internet, and telephone weren't working. Those are all things that I can certainly live without, but golly, they are really convenient. If we didn't have any of them on a regular basis, we'd have to change the way we do things here.

First of all, there's the weather. During this season of ice and snow, we do a lot of checking of the weather and the road conditions. This helps us to plan our day to travel in the safest way. We usually do this with the TV local news or local weather channel. Also, we sometimes use the internet to get the same information. The first morning of the outage, I was at a loss until Ward reminded me that we could use old fashioned radio waves to get the information we needed. So we turned on the radio and found out what we needed--sort of. We didn't get all the details we wanted during the 30 second-blurb that happens every ten minutes. We got some generalities, but the not the specifics for our out-of-the-way community.

Next, we have a very serious family situation going on right now in which there are frequent updates. Many of these are done with email with the occasional phone call. The internet is definitely missed in this situation. And during this very serious time, our nerves have been on edge. And when this happens, I find old reruns of Andy Griffith and I Love Lucy the most calming for me. Ward plays a couple of different computer games to slow his thoughts down. Those were not an option when we felt like we really needed them.

We could have handled all of these problems if we had had a smart phone*.

And you're probably thinking, "Okay, so they don't have a smart phone, don't they at least have a cell phone? Or what about at work? Couldn't they use the internet there?" Well, yes.

We do have cell phones--very old flip phones. In most circumstances, they have been just fine for our needs. However, their poor quality was noticeable during the important family calls. And yes, I can use the internet at work, but I'm not supposed to use it for personal reasons. Consequently, when changes were happening frequently with the family situation, I checked for updates, but not as often as I wanted.

So during the time when our Triple Play was out, I really missed all of our services for some serious and not so serious reasons. I thought about how nice it would have been to have a smart phone. I thought hard about it.

I have been almost ready to get a smart phone for a while now. I like the idea of having a good camera and the internet at my fingertips. I like the fact that you can pay for things with it and get good coupons and deals with it. (I really don't like the fact, that many of these are not available to those of us without smart phones.) And while not necessary, I like the fact that I can look up something easily. I have seen this feature used quite well during our book club discussions. And what about all of those Youtube videos and streaming tv shows I can watch on it.  And the list goes on. When I think about it, a smart phone is a miracle device.

So, am I going shopping for a smart phone today? Well, no. Everything is working again, so the edge is off. But soon, very soon I may join the 58% of Americans that already have one. Up until now, we have chosen not to spend the money on what we considered a luxury. However, it may be making it's way to the top of the list soon.

Do you have a smart phone?

*(We are really technologically challenged. We don't have a tablet either.)

A Second Look--February 25, 2015

After many snow and ice events and plenty of frigid temperatures, we finally had a big snow with more than a foot of accumulation over the weekend. The birds were out all day in it and they provided a great show for the cats who were pinned to the windows watching them. Ward and I were right behind them wondering when it was going to stop while at the same time appreciating how pretty it was.

Here were a few things I saw this week 

during a Second Look.

(All of the birds have a seed in their mouth or suet on their beaks in the pictures below. See if you can find it.)

These deer were visiting during last week's snow.

There go the azaleas. :(

We put out fresh suet before it started to snow which this squirrel really appreciated.

Bluejay

Female cardinal

Junco

White-throated sparrow