Look What Came in the Mail!

This beautiful hat from Lisa at Laughing Orca Ranch, that I won in a give-away.  I'd post the URL, but I see that she has closed her blog to all but invited readers, so it wouldn't do much good.  I'm sorry, Lisa, that you felt that you had to do that.

Anyway, it's a beautiful hat, and I just love it.  It's actually big enough so that it fits my giganormous head.  I struggle to find hats that do.  So, thank you very much, Lisa, if you read this, and best wishes for the future.

Just Because

She's such a good girl.  She's sweet, and quiet, and never causes any trouble.  Sometimes, I feel that, in this household of rowdy, rambunctious and funny cats, she gets overlooked.  So, Gina, here's your blog entry, just to tell you that I love you very much and appreciate your quiet charm.

Brrrrr

OK, it's -4F (-6 if you go by the Weather Widget) right now.  That's 20C.  And, that's too darn cold, even for this Winter lover.  I would guess that, unless it warms up, I won't be sticking my nose outside the door today.

Maybe I can get some chores done.

Oops, that should be -20C

Out of My Rear Window 1/16/11

I think it's going to be a day of changes.  When I first looked out of the window this morning, this is what I saw.

A few minutes later, the same scene looked like this, snowing quite heavily.

But wait!  Several minutes later, the sun was out and the view looked like this.

OK, it might be a little hard to tell from the picture, but, the sun really was out.  I have a feeling it's going to be like this all day.  It's kind of fun.  What will I see the next time I look out of the window?

Back to "My" Woods

I decided that today was the day I would take a nice walk in the woods behind my house.  You may remember that I hadn't been able to get back there all during the late Spring, Summer and Fall because the woods is full of poison ivy.  And, I was afraid to go back there during hunting season, in case my idiot neighbor across the street, or someone else was back there, posted or not, hunting.

So, I started out, in deep, fluffy snow that was easy to walk through.  At the top of the trail, I could see the Bay below.

I headed down the trail.  The woods were quiet and peaceful.

I could see that there had been others in the woods before me.  For a good deal of my walk today, I followed this cross-country ski trail that some folks had made.  They were good, and stayed on the trails, so I stayed out of their tracks.

There was a big old coyote who wasn't so kind however, and walked right in the track for part of the way before heading off into the woods.  The picture doesn't show the track too well, but the print was maybe two-thirds the length of my treking pole handle.

Part of the woods behind my house belongs to the County Parks System.  They're not going to develop it and the only way for most people to get there is by water.  I saw that, since the last time I had been back there they had been doing some surveying and posting.  At least, I think that's what this mark on the tree means.

They also had these signs all around the perimeter of their property.  I did wonder about this sign.  It's quite high up, and the only way to get it tacked up was for a fairly tall person to lean against the tree.  But, you see that hairy vine going up the tree, under the sign?  That's poison ivy.  That person must have leaned right against it.  Hope he or she didn't get a case of the itchies.

I had a little bit of a disappointment when I started down a trail that lead pretty directly to a small cove off of the bay.  A huge tree had either fallen or been cut so it fell across the trail and I couldn't go any farther.  So near that I can see the Bay, but I just can't get there this way.

So, I went back and started down the trail that lead to the foundation of the old homesteader's/squatter's house.  On the way I got a good view of the largest cove off of the Bay.  It is beautiful and still.  I did see some deer run across it, but they were pretty far away and I didn't get a shot of them.

Surprisingly, someone has built a big modern house right at the entrance of the cove.  It's even more surprising because this has to be a three-season home.  The only way to get to it is by boat.  Can you imagine the cost to haul in all of the building materials by boat to build this thing?  I had seen it last Spring, but couldn't get a good shot of it through the trees then.

 The dock for the big house.

Somehow, I find the remnants of the old house much more interesting.

I was able to follow a path that, in the warmer parts of the year is too swampy to walk on, right out almost to the Bay itself.  In the warmer seasons, this area is covered by ferns.  You can see, in this picture, what I think is one of the two generations of the fern in this picture.  Fern reproduction kind of puzzles me, but, I see these things grow from the ferns in my garden, also.  They look almost like those brown sugar crystal sticks that you see in the specialty stores.

And, there it was, the Bay, and one of the small islands with it's mandatory summer house.  It looks like it's pretty frozen.

OK, I had made it.  I had wanted to get to the Bay and I did.  Of course, I had to go a much longer route to get there, most of it downhill.  Now, I had to get back home, all up hill.  It took me a while, and a lot of rest stops, but, soon I was on the main trail which lead back to my house.  I was surprised to see that, in the time I had been in the woods, some deer had crossed my path after I had gone by.  See how the deer's footprint is right on top of mine?

I found a couple of bright bits of color.  This green spot that is a mixture of lichen and moss.

And, that beautiful invader, Asian Bittersweet.

And, worst of all, I didn't notice until I was on my way home that the scrub woods beside my house, right along the logging trail that had been cut into it, was full of the heinous invader, Swallowwort.  These are its seedpods, long opened, with the seeds blown helter skelter.  I wonder if it will crowd out the poison ivy?

This was intended to be a short walk in the woods.  But, it was two and a half hours.  I had a wonderful time, and just kept being pulled on and on and on.  But, I think I'm going to be a bit on the sore side tomorrow.

Lazy

I admit it, I'm a wee bit on the lazy side.  I'm not a great cook, I'm not any kind of housekeeper at all and I have no really creative hobbies.  I have to kick myself, a lot of times, to get up and get going.

Today is a kick day.  I have a lot I have to do, including, horror of horrors, a trip to the Dept. of Motor Vehicles.  But, given my choice, I'd rather be doing this.

Maybe there's a reason why I'm a cat person.

Mr. Cardinal at the Feeder

Hey!  No one told me that the attire was supposed to be formal!

That's the Mrs. on the other side!

If I don't look, I can pretend that there's not another male on this feeder.

Birds of another feather not permitted!  See my crest, don't I look scary and fierce?

OK, where'd everybody go?

Good, he finally left!