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After a week of real sub-zero weather, we were glad to wake up this morning to six inches of new snow and 20 degrees ABOVE zero! After every significant snow, we have a lot of cleaning up to do. Will took Hondo out on the plow truck to clear our driveway while I moved the vehicles around so he could clear their parking spots.

While he plowed, I got out the scoop shovel and cleared the plow berm away from our walkway, the path to the chicken coop, and goat barn. Luckily it was light snow.

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Then Will swept the snow off of the Subaru while I fed the chickens and goats. Walking past the pen where our “motley crew” of Angus calves were that Will had bought at the sale barn I was happy to see how much weight they had put on.

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We’ve been feeding the birds and still haven’t had any but woodpeckers, chickadees, and nuthatches. I’m always hoping for a cardinal or even some grosbeaks but so far, nothing “fancy.”

I took a half ham out of the freezer last night and hope to be canning a big batch of ham as well as bean soup and maybe some split pea. It’s amazing at how far a big half ham will go!

I’m thinking maybe I’d better seed another Hopi Pale Grey squash again. We’ve got lots of seeds for our little seed business but last time I made two “pumpkin” pies and they were gone in two days (with just the two of us). Life is good. — Jackie

11 COMMENTS

  1. lois lara,

    I really understand about too much rain. It does get you down. Will grew up in western Washington and he says he hated all the rain, day after day. Says he was colder at 40 there than he is at -20 here. Here’s hoping for sunshine and spring weather for you and the birds!!

  3. I almost wish for snow, I live near Sandy Oregon now. This winter we have had so much rain that it has set a record for this part of Oregon. RAIN is Depressing! I have to say I am really looking forward to Summer! Even the birds are depressed :)

  4. Cardinals are very rare here too….not a full time resident, like when I was growing up down in Rochester. I used to whistle their call back at them and they would follow me in the tree tops up to the full mile when I walked home from school as a child. We had 24 males one year during the winter bird count in our back yard before a storm in the 1980’s. The Audubon Society would call my folks and have them count their back yard the day of the count. My brother says they are wintering farther and farther north in the Red River Valley now and so you may see some one of these years. I had one female at my feeders that I saw one day last winter. Only one ever. My cousin, who is about 35 miles north of me and in the river bottoms, had a male Cardinal at her feeders all winter several years ago. He was scruffy, but he was here. Perhaps you will see one at your feeders soon!

  5. Rick Riley,

    It’s nice and sunny today and pretty warm….20s. Dandelions???? Holy mackerel! Ours are under three feet of snow, even on the south side of the house. I’m so jealous of your cardinals! But maybe one day? We have blue jays pretty much of the time but they are such bullies. We measure spring by what birds we see and hear. It’s always a race to see who hears the first red-winged blackbird, robin, mourning dove or killdeer! And we rejoice when one of us reports a sighting/hearing! I LOVE spring!

  6. Holly,

    Thanks for the heads up! It’s already warmer here. Yesterday we got 28 degrees and there are rumors of thirties this week. Hooray! I’m still waiting for “pretty” birds. I’ve never had a cardinal but I keep hoping. Some have been seen in Hibbing, 30 miles southwest of us. I love the mourning doves too! I love going out first thing in the morning and listening to them. Ah, spring!!!

  7. Lady Locust,

    Yep, it does. But when it gets 20 around here, with the sun out, I’m out in the yard feeding the birds in my T shirt!!!

  8. I love visiting your blog, it’s always a pick me up. I learn so much. We are just over a cold snap for the last week where it dipped to an intolerable -45C…and then an ice storm overnight with snow turning to rain, then back to a frigid -25C. We’ve just got power back after 10 hours of shivering under blankets. Our 6 pets and my bf and I huddled in his office which is the best insulated room in the house, I think we kept warm mostly due to body heat! I can’t wait to stop renting and start building my own off-grid homestead when money allows, hopefully that will be sooner than later. At least we have a fireplace for some warmth! Our cedars look pitiful all bent over from the heavy ice…but seeing your smiling face in that photo made my day! Glad you’re enjoying life :)

  9. Miss Jackie, SO glad you finally got some better temps. It was so warm earlier that we had the bees working the dandelions a few days. then the cold set in. Not like your place as we are zone 5. We woke up to an ice storm this morning. Have kept the feeders full all winter for a lot of sparrows. Some years we get several pair of cardinals, junkos a few blue jays etc. I have been pleased to see up to 10 mourning doves this year. They don’t get up on the feeder but they scurry about pecking up what the other birds scatter. I love the doves with their soft greys and shades of tan, their mating coos and they nest in the spruce trees bordering my place I love when they bring the fledglings into my garden and take dust baths and peck around……Rick

  10. There is warm weather a comin’! We are west of you and it is 37F right now.

    I had about 50 or so birds around my front feeders on Monday – Mostly Red Polls with a few Goldfinches and sparrows mixed in. The Hairy and Downy woodpeckers are the most consistent. I can’t seem to attract the Nut Hatches. One comes in once in a while, but they don’t stay. Earlier this winter I had a White winged Grosbeak in. We are south of their “range” – but she was in and I saw her twice so I could positively identify her. The pheasants have been in to my feeders too. In mid February I am HAPPY about 20F – that is much better than -20 or -35F! Have a great day!

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