Favorite Quotes

"In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks" -- John Muir

"A bubbling brook will lose it's song if you remove the rocks." --unknown

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched; they must be felt with the heart." -- Helen Keller

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about dancing in the rain." -- unknown




Sunday, January 2, 2011

Day 2

Whoo hoooo - heat wave!! Made it all the way up to 8 above!! And it's snowing... again. Hopefully this will not be the six to ten inches of snow they've been forecasting all week. It sure is pretty though.

Went for a walk this morning, and the creek is completely frozen over. The deer have been crossing regularly, as evident by the many tracks and trails they've left across it. Along with the deer tracks, there are also tracks of otter, raccoon, muskrat, snowshoe hare, turkey and a few other unidentifiable birds.

There were also fox tracks in the snow. I followed them up the hill to an old shed and peeked inside. The remains of a pigeon lay on the ground. Looks like the fox had a nice meal of squab in the past day or two.

A Bald Eagle was perched in the old snag at the top of the hill, and a Great Gray Owl flew silently overhead. The eagle flew off as the owl approached and took over the snag. It searched the ground for its next meal, then suddenly it plunged to the ground; returning to it's perch to gobble up a small rodent it had caught. Then it too flew off, perhaps in search of a more secluded dining area.

There are 25 or 30 White Tail Deer gathered in the pasture at the foot of the hill. The grass is barely visible from beneath the snow, but they still look fat and sleek. WInter has been good to them so far.

Back home and at my desk, watching about seven flickers vying for a turn at the suet. They're very handsome birds, with their bold, black collar, polka-dotted breasts and the bright orange feather shafts - that are only seen when they spread their tail feathers. A few of the Flickers are relinquished to the sunflower seed, which they do seem to like, but with the colder weather they've been gobbling up the suet like there's no tomorrow - need to make more! They, along with the single Downy Woodpecker, have become my only visitors this winter. Normally I have House Finches, Goldfinches and Pine Siskins too, but even they've gone south. Haven't even seen a Magpie lately...

I've been going through some my computer files and was reading through some of the things I've written in the past. Sometimes I really surprise myself with some of it, it's pretty darn good - and others... well, I don't know what in the world I was thinking when I wrote them. Guess it was just one of those days when I allowed my wild imagination to run with a crazy idea. One of these days I'll actually try and get some of this stuff published somewhere.

Well, guess I'd better get the snow pants and boots on and go out to shovel the driveway. I've had a reprieve for a few days, but I knew it was too good to be true!

Only 77 days until Spring!!

1 comment:

  1. Fun blog here thanks for sharing. I do love Monatana... ok only been there in summer and fall. The Bitteroot Valley is a favorite place and Sam Billings campground up from Darby a favorite camping spot. :)

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