Everything was still white. The snow storm had gone last night. I looked at the woods in front of me and in back of my house this morning. Usually the trees are completely white only temporarily but the temperature the next day was just right. All the branches of the trees and bushes were still covered by snow. It was a beautiful sight. And rare. It only happens a few times a year.

Tilla, my favorite dog, likes to make me laugh. Just the other day he was lying on his back vigorously wagging his tail. I just had to laugh. That must have been his intention. I am convinced he has a sense of humor and likes to make me laugh.

Winter is less than four weeks away. It is in the sixties today. The cold weather will return. Nevertheless, I will enjoy today. I just learned that 2014 has been the warmest in history. I am sure the bitter cold will come and there will be snow again. The only question is how bad will winter be. And spring will follow. Isn’t that a happy thought?

I’d Like To Hibernate

Author: siggy

I could not “hide” and stay in my house where it was warm to avoid the cold. The temperatures were below freezing the second day in a row. If I could, I would but eventually I will have appointments to go to and errands. Winter still was over four weeks away officially. How discouraging!

I have been putting out birdseed again for several months. I had stopped for a few months. We had several visits from a bear who was tearing down all the bird feeders helping himself. The last week was the first time I saw a red bellied woodpecker (several times) and a Carolina wren. I could have sworn I saw a brown creeper and the first flock of slate covered juncos feeding on the ground. These were all first sighting of these birds since I put back the feeders.

My wife was ready to put back the curtains on our large living room window. One curtain rod was missing. Both my wife and I looked up and down the room where we might have laid it. No luck. Then one evening I spotted it. It was resting on the frame of the window in plain sight. We both laughed. Sometimes you can get “blind” spots. You don’t see something because it is not where you expect it to be.

How sad you stopped noting your birthday years ago. You led too solitary a life. There was no one around you to make a fuss about your birthday. Hermits stop celebrating their birthdays. You get one special day a year. If there is no one around you to make you feel special that day you stop noting that day. My family (and some friends) always noted that day. It is just so sad there is almost no one in your life to do that. So you stopped celebrating your birthday.

I heard a tapping above me outside and I could not find the source. Finally I noted a pileated woodpecker was tapping the wood on a dead tree and he was at least fifty feet up. The tree bordered the street across from me. I only identified the bird by moving to the side of the tree. There was no mistaking its exotic red crest and large size. It was the closest I have ever been to such a woodpecker. He stayed there tapping on the wood for at least fifteen minutes. I tried to get my wife’s attention so she could see the bird but she let the dogs loose in the yard and the commotion must have flushed the bird. I have only seen several in the time I have lived in this area although I hear their wild cackle occasionally.

The pheasant I saw to the left of me on the side of the road seemed bewildered: it did not know whether to go left or right. An hundred feet ahead was a small flatbed truck which released several more pheasants. Several hunters with their pickup trucks milled around. This was near a public game land. I felt bad for the birds. It was as if the hunters wanted to see where the pheasants went. This did not seem very sporting. Later on I returned and four trucks were parked neatly in the game land parking lot but I saw no hunters. I guess they were now hunting the pheasants. I just felt bad for the birds.