WELCOMING IN ANOTHER YEAR ~~ THE SNOW SITUATION ~~ FOR THE BIRDS ~~ CLEARING THE AIR ~~ PARTING SHOT

WELCOMING IN ANOTHER YEAR

I hope everyone had a Happy New Year's Day. We played it pretty low-key at our house, as usual, working on our current jigsaw puzzle and playing with my new camera. I am still a very long way from proficient with this camera, but I am making progress. I feel like I need to go back to school to learn how to use it. This is what happens when you have spent the last 10 years using a camera that was very much automatic. When you get a camera that enables you to have some control using manual functions, you have to learn all over again exactly how everything is inter-connected. Suffice it to say that I am still learning. And we are still working on the puzzle.

The puzzle on the day after Christmas

The puzzle as it is now

THE SNOW SITUATION

We did get a little bit of snow that made it possible for us to have a White Christmas, but since then we have only had a rain/ice mix on a couple of days. This is a far cry from what we had last year at this time.

Our spruce tree last year at this time

Our spruce tree now

As a result of the rain/ice mix, our driveway, which is in deep shade all day, is a solid sheet of ice. This makes for precarious walks out to the road, which is completely clear. We gingerly take each step, trying to find a spot that still has somewhat crunchy snow instead of slippery ice. If it ever warms up enough to melt the ice a bit, Linda and I have vowed to get out there and shovel it away. But until then we have to take it easy.

Our icy driveway

FOR THE BIRDS

All this melted snow has made the scenery around here pretty boring. The ground is a mixture of mud and snow/melted ice. Plus we have had a couple of weeks where the sun has only peeked out once or twice, and then not for long. All of this makes it hard for me to get some good pictures. We have been keeping our bird feeder full of seeds, but the dark, dreary days do not lend themselves to getting good pictures. However, I have managed to get a few good shots that I can share with you.

Male House Finch

Eurasian Collared Dove in tree behind our house

Close-up of male House Sparrow

I saw this little guy below hopping around underneath the feeder in the remnants of snow. I try to identify birds correctly, but with sparrows it is quite a challenge. However, I believe this one is a Song Sparrow.

Song Sparrow

When I ventured outside earlier today to take a picture of the driveway, I was surprised to hear the birds in the barberry bush beside the driveway chirping their little heads off. They love to get in this huge bush and survey the bird feeders. The bush is so big and dense that they are assured to be protected from predators, like hawks...or Summer Girl. Be sure to have your sound on for this.

CLEARING THE AIR

One of the neatest presents I got this year for Christmas came from my sister. It's an essential oil diffuser. This one has a light with really pretty colors that you either leave solid or set to change colors every few seconds. She also sent us a box with a nice assortment of essential oils. Just 2-4 drops are all you need to put in. So far we have used the Lemongrass scent, which is very soothing. You can determine how strong the scent is by the number of drops you put into the diffuser. If you are interested, you can check it out on Amazon by clicking here. If you watch the video below very closely, you can see the mist coming out of the top.

PARTING SHOT

Summer Girl enjoyed her holidays and now has gotten back into the groove of just being a cat. Her new favorite thing is to join us in the office while we are working on the jigsaw puzzle. We have to keep an eye on her, though, because she likes to walk on top of the puzzle. If there are any pieces missing, we will know where they went!

"Are you accusing me of something?"

That's all for now, see you next week for more news from the Yakkie City!