Taking care of God's creatures

 We have been keeping the bird feeders full,

as well as tossing out seed and corn on the snow.

The deer 'pert near' clean us out every night,

but we're cool with that.

We grow quiet and tip toe closer to the window

to watch them.

Tonight we counted nine.

There were three groups; 

two of the groups were not the usual ones.

Mama and her two young ones

did not take kindly to the intruders.

She was quite territorial and ran them off.

At times they were on their hind feet

 with their front paws slashing the air.

"Resident Mama' always won.

My camera was charging, 

so, alas, no photos.

The birds seem appreciative of the bounty 

that hangs and lies in front of our window.

Only sudden movement frightens them off.

I never tire of watching them.

I don't know what they all are;

our bird books were packed several years ago

when Mike moved up here from Cincinnati.

We have not found them yet.

Further down, after the bird pictures,

you'll see a visitor who started coming yesterday.

He loves the corn kernels. 

Here's our latest 'client'.

He's cute to watch.

Here are my two favorite 'snow birds'.

Ginger is the only one here who is truly loving all this cold.

She loves to burrow in the snow.

She licks and eats it.

She buries her nose in it.

She is content to lie in it,

even in single digit temps

and often does not want to come inside.

That's a husky for you!

But she also likes to curl up on the couch.

George does too, but he does not snuggle with Ginger.

Notice all the hair - twice a year,

huskies molt, not shed.

They have two coats and they rid themselves of the top one,

and a new one grows in.

There is white hair everywhere.

And no, I did not research that before we got her.

We clean this blanket regularly,

but within thirty minutes it is covered.

However, we still love her!

 We are staying warm and safe.

[We have now missed 15 days of school!!!]

Corner View: Vision

 The phone awoke me this morning.  

I had set my alarm for later than usual, so I was not up yet

when the all-call went out through our school district.

The superintendent did not try a two-hour delay; instead,

he went straight to " N . . . L . . . .  schools are closed today."

We had known it was coming since last week,

but last night the storm had been down-graded by some weather reporters.

Their downgrade was in relation to inches in snow, 

but that was not the danger; it was ice, ice, 

and more ice raining down on us non-stop.

So instead of what I had planned for this topic,

I chose to highlight our icy landscape.

Mind you, I took photos

from inside the house!

The birds were a bit frantic this morning,

because the deer had eaten a bunch of corn and seed

the night before.

Their anxiety seemed to have lessened considerably 

after Mike refilled the feeders.

The photo below is a close-up of the bush featured in the first photo.

I did walk two steps out on the front stoop.

This was taken after a snow storm.

This same bird (or a close relative--Ha!) is shown after our ice storm.

(My camera was set on a more sensitive dial.)

I like this little guy who somewhat sheltered in that bush

for awhile.

The bird feeders exhibit the ice well, don't you think?!

Last, here is a set of handy 'tools' to enhance our vision.

My husband leaves a pair of his reading glasses 

throughout the house - literally every room that he's in at some point.

The above is on the stool by where he sits in the living room.

For more corner views on vision,

hop on over to Francesca's place.

Corner View: Motion

We have had a more than fair share 

of the "Polar Vortex"

these past five days.

I have been staying in 

as much as possible--no school--

because the bitter cold is no friend of fibromyalgia.

Mike has been a good sport

in taking our Siberian Husky, Ginger,

out for walks and just to play.

In the above photo

they are in the front yard

due to Mike restocking the bird feeders.

He is getting ready to throw her bone.

In this next photo

they are in the back yard

where Mike usually throws sticks and her favorite stuffed duck

for her to run after and fetch.

Ginger has a cute hop that she does.

You can see her duck 'flying' through the air.

Below is a bigger photo of just Mike and Ginger.

I liked this bigger size as it really shows her in motion,

although the duck is no longer in the pic.

Here are some bird friends in motion seeking seeds.

 One has just landed.

Then there are my fingers--two of which are fastened,

so as not to move.

I fell this past Friday on the last two stairs

of the back stairway leading from the master bedroom

to the kitchen---I misjudged the distance

and landed on my knees and the little and ring fingers

of my left hand.

I thought my  'pinky' was broken at first,

but now I think I badly sprained it

and the area in the top part of my palm.

As long as I don't move it much

or put any kind of weight on it,

it is okay.

However, I could not bear to have those fingers 'done' 

on my bi-monthly nail appointment.

Therefore, I'm setting a new trend:

eight fingers of one color

and the last two fingers of one hand another color!

For more corner views,

head on over to Francesca's.

Corner View: January Colors

I had to think about this topic.

Sometimes I know immediately how I will interpret a topic,

but this wasn't the case this week.

I took a few photos of inside the house.

The only ornaments that are still out 

are these antique ones of my mother's.

I put the Christmas reds, greens, and golds away

 and added more of the pastels.

I like the effect.

{This is the first year I have had them out, even though I've had them for about seven years.

The ornaments were kept in a trunk for many years--am not sure where that is.

One of my brothers has expressed interest in them,

so this summer he and I will go through and divide them.}

I keep my snowmen out until mid-February.

They are mostly in burgundy,dark green, and white/cream, 

with a touch of sky-blue and deep-red.

This time of year, the outside colors are muted blues and browns

illuminated by the snow and with the evergreens adding a touch of color.

Even most of the birds that visit are of muted tones

like this little guy that flew in when I was snapping pictures.

(The view is from our living room bay window.)

However, a lone redbird honors us with his bright presence.

Isn't he cute with a seed in his beak and a bit of snow clinging to it?

He likes to run back in under these branches and eat his seed.

Then he scurries back out, grabs a seed, and hides once again.

(I did finally see his mate, but wasn't ready with the camera.)

Such are the colors in Southeast Ohio in January.

For more corner views on this topic,

hop on over to Francesca's Fuoriborgo.

Finally a post on Christmas 2013!

This was during our family Christmas celebration

the Sunday before Christmas.

Doug and his children (Addison, Peyton, Dillon) are on the left.

Sara, her husband Jory, and their two children(Aaron and Abigail) are on the right.

This is quite different from last year --- so much more room!

Aaron loves cake and it is a rare treat.

I think we have established a tradition: photos of Aaron each Christmas

savoring his cake(we celebrate his mom's birthday also).

This is him last year.

Here we are gathered around the table for dessert.

Presents have been opened 

and the chili, corn bread, and salad have settled.

I like this one because we are all laughing.

Here is Miss Abigail exploring our home

on their second visit.

She had changed so much from last year---

talking was the biggest change.

She does that A LOT (love it!)

In the above pic she has the dog's reindeer ears on with her big red bow.

I brought out one of the dress-up suitcases

and she put on this kimono.

She kept the reindeer ears on, of course.

We bought her a red hood for Ohio winter weather.

Thankfully, the brutal polar cold had not hit us yet.

Sara's dad usually picks them up

and I take them back.

We try to have lunch at Max and Erma's in the airport.

One last pic before they leave.

This was Christmas Day.

Corner View: A Good Read

The topic this week is "A Good Read."

I came home the last two days to packages waiting for me.

I had ordered three books in hard copy--two were only offered that way.

and the third I thought I might want to share with colleagues,

so I didn't go the Kindle route.

Two of them I read about in our newspaper.

It has a weekly column on the latest "good reads."

Last week Facing the Sunshine and Avoiding the Shadows

by Becky Johnen

was listed in the "Good Reads" ( not really its title) column.

Since education is undergoing immense change

and that change is causing all kinds of stress,

I thought this book might help.

The following book was recommended in a weekly column

by a naturalist.

{Several blogs have had an influence on me 

in motivating me to get more in touch with nature.

One of those is Susie's blog "Just a Moment"

I have been following it for several years now.}

Anyhow, Gone for the Day sounded like something I would enjoy

and something that might motivate me to have even more contact with nature.

The author Ned Smith is long gone, but his field notes and sketches,

as well as his newspaper columns, remain.

This was a book published by a nature organization back in the 70's.

It is still popular today.

However, the book actually being critiqued and recommended

was the book another naturalist put together

of hundreds of more notes, sketches, and articles by Ned Smith.

I decided to order the first one and then possibly get the second.

This is the catalog from which I order books for my grandkids.

The selection and details of each book are awesome.

The books have become part of a special collection

my daughter keeps for her two children.

The Amazing Machines is a set I got my grandson Aaron and it has been a huge hit.

For more views on "good reads," hop
on over to Francesca's Fuoriborgo.

Corner View: Darkness and Light

This was our house during the Christmas holidays.

Our house is set back quite a bit from the road,

so we have lots of privacy.

However, you could see it as soon as your rounded the bend in the road

with its white lights and the Christmas tree.

Our neighborhood went all out for Christmas decorations---

Three-fourths of the subdivision had Christmas lights on their houses.

A fiend of mine drove out in our neighborhood on a whim Christmas eve

and later told me that nowhere else in our small town

were there so many decorating participants in a concentrated area.

I enjoyed walking our dog and looking at the lights.

Most lights are down and put away now.

Ours are.

M. took advantage of a warm spell(30 degrees -ha!)

and took them down and put them away until next year.

(It is now 6 degrees out and was down in the negative digits---

no school for the first two days of this week.)

I like how these photos show the light smack dab in the middle of the darkness--

thus I thought these would work for the topic "Darkness and Light."

Our front entry is actually on the side of the house.

The front door opens up into one end of the long living room

that takes up the entire front of the house.

There is a beautiful bump-out of bay windows

and that is where our Christmas tree went.

The folks before us installed bright lights

to help in getting from the garage to the house..

M. now remembers to switch them on

 if I'm not home by 5 PM;

I had difficulty one night because of the total darkness

and he was gone so the house was almost completely dark 

on the inside too.

The lights coming from the first floor are from two large windows

in our kitchen.

They are on each side of a Vermont stove,

which right now is working quite hard

at keeping the kitchen warm.

This photo shows the beam of one of the large outdoor lights.

You can also see the light from our master bedroom's windows.

I have not been writing much on the Internet--just have been bogged down 

with the other stuff of life,

and often when I have a moment of quiet, 

I retreat into a good book.

{I'm presently reading the 4th installment 

in the No. 1 Detective Ladies' Detective Agency series.

It is called The Full Cupboard of Life.

The series take place in Botswana

and thus transport me to a different world.}

However, I always try to participate in Corner View.

Check out Francesca's place for more corner views.

They will be up early tomorrow.