Snow in stasis

We’re stuck in that midwinter pause, when the days are short and the sun isn’t changing. It’s still cold outside. The snow still looks pretty much the same. There’s still sparrows and juncos mobbing the feeders. Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal still drop by. Nothing much seems to be happening.

Snow patterns

Here around Boston, it’s perfectly normal for it not to go above freezing for a week in January. It’s not fun to go out, but it’s still pretty normal. When I venture out to feed the birds, it’s also pretty normal for me to linger, looking at the patterns in the snow.

Five, Five Orchid buds

Here’s something I can handle: growing an orchid. By which I mean, watching my orchid grow. The one bud is now five. They might even start opening soon. By which I mean, three weeks from now.

Juncos hit the slopes

This latest storm lift drift and slopes all around the feeder. I half expected to see the birds skiing, but they’re traditionalists. If hopping about was good enough for the grand-birds, it’s good enough for them. And there’s at least four juncos are in the crowd. Fat ones too.

Deep Freeze

It’s about as cold as it gets here: 20s during the day, single digits overnight. All the odd little places where puddles form are now cold and dry. The frozen ground has that weird dry sponge feel underfoot, from the way the ice expands in the upper layer as it freezes. And this dairy crate […]

Snapdragons snap back

I know snapdragons can tough it out, even if they look frozen, but it startles me every time. This time, they got well covered in snow, and last night they got well washed by a good strong rain overnight. Now they look downright perky. I know snapdragons are tough, but are they crazy enough to […]

New improved water for the birds

The frisbee I filled with water was a good start. The birds seemed to like it. But as I mentioned to my local Household Inventor, it needed improvement. It might help if the dish was black, I said. And it might help to cover it a bit to reduce the surface area. And it might […]

White solstice

The junco has landed. The storm has ended. The shovelling mittens have been deployed. The back is clear. The steps are clear. The driveway is clear. The sidewalk is clear. Phew! The shoveling mittens are drying.

The cringe before the storm

Every time I see the twisted frozen leaves of the various plants that have succumbed to the cold, I want to cringe. They may be plants, but that looks painful. Don’t worry, sad, dead, snapdragon. Soon you will be covered with drifts and drifts of snow. Time to hunker down.

Live Drinky Birds

Welcome back to the realm of blurry pictures taken through a window. This time, it’s the birds again. So it’s not such a great picture, but here they are, enjoying a cold frisbee of water. For a while, it was a warm frisbee of hot water steaming up in a small fog. As the steam […]