A January Day

If you are looking for the 'Grow Your Blog', and you may want to, as it contains a giveaway, you will find it here.

 

 

 

 

"The shortest day has passed, and whatever nastiness of weather we may look forward to in January and February, at least we notice that the days are getting longer.  Minute by minute they lengthen out.  It takes some weeks before we become aware of the change.  It is imperceptible even as the growth of a child, as you watch it day by day, until the moment comes when with a start of delighted surprise we realize that we can stay out of doors in a twilight lasting for another quarter of a precious hour."
-  Vita Sackville-West

 

 

Before today, we had some tolerable weather.  'Today' is featured in the photograph above'.  It is -26C with a wind chill of -40C.  The wind is swirling the snow around, stripping it down to the grass in places and building it up several feet high in others.  If nothing else, we do get to enjoy a landscape that changes by the hour.  Once the weather has become a little friendlier, the kids will go out to explore what has become of their yard.  The paths they had made, and the little cubby holes they dug in the last banks are all filled in and will need to be recreated.

 

This little squirrel has been our local dog-tormentor for a couple of years now.  Our dog, Bear, truly enjoys chasing him through the trees, and barking up at him.  The cheeky little thing has actually thrown bits of things from the trees at Bear, and even at myself and the kids.  He is a very well-fed and healthy little guy and as such, he is very active, making it very difficult to get an excellent photo of the wee scamp.

We had a lot more chickadees before our neighbor decided to push down a whole bunch of bush across the road from our yard late this past fall.  We used to see dozens, and now only 3 or 4 at a time.  We also had several blue jays, and since the demolition, none have been here.  I'm sure it will be sad to see how the change in the landscape has affected our spring and summer birds as well. 

The day the bulldozers came, our yard went quiet.  Before that, there was so much chirping, you couldn't distinguish one bird from another.  Now, it's just here and there, and often, not at all.  I've hardly had to fill my feeders this year, and last year it was at least every 3 days that they needed attention.  But, hopefully, overtime, with continually feeding, our population will rebuild itself.

We do have our loyal few, however, and I managed to get a decent shot of one the other day.  I've been learning how to better use my camera, and it really helped in getting this shot.  I just love the chickadees.  They are relatively tame, and given enough patience, will eat right out of your hand