We hang a seed feeder and sugar water feeder on our back patio in winter to assist the various seed-eating species and the Anna's hummingbirds that overwinter.
I sit inside and take photos of the action. The pictures below are through a window that hasn't been washed in a while, and the feeder is always swaying when birds are on it. Apologies that the quality is mediocre; it's good enough to convey what we see going on all day, which is the goal here.
Both black-cap and chestnut-back chickadees dart in continuous, choreographed motion between the feeder and the Western red cedar trees 20' away. They never sit on the feeder more than 5 seconds.
The song sparrows consider themselves pretty big stuff compared to the chickadees. They fly to the feeder and chase the chickadees off, then sit and munch for up to a minute at a time.
The dark-eyed juncos are less frequent visitors, and seem better-mannered than the song sparrows.
The red-breasted nuthatch always points down the tree or feeder. They are less-frequent at the feeder and are even briefer than the chickadees - a second and they are gone. They also hit the feeder harder when they land on it, making it sway more. I finally obtained a satisfactory image.
The spotted towhee is the largest bird so far to perch on the feeder. They seem more comfortable on the ground, and after retrieving a seed, fly back under a dense bush below the feeder.
The largest winter bird to frequent our yard is the varied thrush, a cousin of the robin (who appears in early spring). They are too large to perch, although they once in a while attempt it. Perhaps the attempt is merely to knock some seeds out onto the ground.
Our Pacific sooty fox sparrow, like the towhee and thrush, compete with the squirrels for seeds on the ground. I have not seen a fox sparrow attack the feeder, but they are active under it.
We had snow first in mid-November and next in mid-January.
Ben was able to attend Debby's medicare b'day celebration, which we combined with a Chanukah dinner for the local family. The next day, we went down to have lunch with Stef and the twins at Boom Noodle. Then Stef drove Ben to the airport for his return.
In tune with other holiday happenings, we host a gift opening on Dec 25th by our yule tree. Nate got a large train set and Emi got a treasure chest filled with costumes for fairy tale characters. Yours truly kept the home fires stoked.
We had several days of snow in mid-January that dumped ~10 inches on us. The trash guys failed to show up one day; the mailman failed to show on another day. People were hardier when I was young. On the other hand, bad snow is a rarity here, so no great inconvenience from missing an occasional day.
I am determined not to buy snow tires or a snow shovel. I'm a gut-it-out kind of person :-) This is our third winter here and so far so good. I use an inverted metal leaf rake to shovel the snow from the walk and drive. Works great. And the Audi's Quattro AWD works fine with M+S-rated all-weather tires. But we are keeping our eyes open for an AWD baby SUV for Debby, so she can drive herself when the roads are bad.
Owen visited us and caught the beginnings of our current storm. We had Dori and family over for a Saturday night spaghetti feast. On Sunday, Owen enjoyed tromping through the snow before we visited Pike Place Market. The kippered (dry smoked) sockeye salmon from the market is delicious. It was a slow day there, so they even threw our small bag of smoked salmon with loud ceremony, to make a little show for the few patrons in the area. We dined at a wine bar called Purple before getting Owen back to the airport.
Our back yard assumes a special aura when the snow falls:
And meanwhile, creative energy was being expended in a backyard nearby. Gotta love those eye lashes.
As the snow piled on, we couldn't resist going out and frolicking - well as close to frolic as we come these days.
The final word on snowmen was captured via iPhone out the car window just down the block from us.
While walking my usual running route through the neighborhood, this wintery scene handily popped onto my iPhone.
We didn't make it all the way to Dec 21 without turning on the house heat this year. Winter came early. The inside temp fell to the mid 50's overnight on the 14th, so I set up the winter program and turned the heat on. The thermostat is programmed for 62 during the day, 68 during the morning and evening hours when both my spouse and I are here, and then 55 at night for when we retire under a big down comforter.
It's been raining for the past 12 hours; that's a lot for here. It means snow at the higher elevations nearby. And the good news: the roof on our 81 year old house doesn't leak. I love a sound roof. It leaked when we moved in five years ago, but I discovered a lot of leaves and debris trapped in a narrow valley, and removing that mess cured the leak.
I made a fire in the fireplace two nights ago: we use eucalyptus, oak, and orange wood in the current mix. My previous fire was nearly a year ago. It was a nightmare, an absolute disaster. It was very windy out and rather than creating an updraft, we experienced a weird downdraft that filled the room with smoke. Then I tried to open a window to help it draft, but that didn't help and the wind grabbed the window and banged it wide open and made a crack in the glass pane. I had to carry the smoking logs outside and douse them. I felt really stupid. But this week's fire was just the opposite, a perfect fire. I'm smart again.Winter weather makes warm comfort food sound good. For us, that means getting out the big crockpot. We've started with soups this year. I made a butternut squash soup a few days ago, and am making a tomato/onion soup for tonight, flavored with vermouth and tarragon. It's smelling great. We'll have a fresh French baguette to go with it, and a nice Pinot. This simple fare suits these economic hard times.
Speaking of value, we were out and about yesterday and stopped at an Indian fast food place for dinner, where we shared a meal. Two entries and rice and nan cost $9. That's a tasty and nourishing value meal. I've adopted my spouse's trick of ordering plain water, then adding a splash from the lemonade tap; it improves the flavor and the price is right. We eat well and still live within our means.
