Late Winter Doings, Daisy Style

Well we got a momentary peek of early spring temps one day last week when the thermometer read 44 degrees – for a whole six hours. The next day we were back into single-digit wind chills; but hey, at least they’re not going below zero!

We’ve had a couple more beautiful snowfalls too, and the five inches or so that’s on the ground now is frozen solid. And I mean solid – the ice at the base of the driveway is at least two inches thick.

I can never get enough of winter photography; to me winter presents unique and ever-changing beauty.

The rising sun creates a reddish glow on the trees, which we don’t see when the leaves are out.

A particularly vivid sunset, which we also can’t see when the trees are in full leaf bloom.

We’ve made sure to keep the birdies well fed, and in turn, they’ve given us a lot of entertainment along with their cuteness.

You can always tell how cold winter is by how chubby the birds are!

These guys took the easy pickins.

And while dozens of little birdies braved the weather to visit our feeder during snowstorms, ice storms, and frigid temps, what did Daisy do?

Yup, that’s our little log-dog squishing herself between a blanket and the sofa back, oblivious to the birds’ winter plight. Don’t know how she even breathes like that!

We were happy to see that not only did our rosemary plant survive the winter and continue to give us extremely aromatic herbs, but it provided a nice spot for birds awaiting their turn at the feeder.

I’ll just wait my turn on this yummy-smelling bush…

Mom and Pop cardinals continued flocking in for food – this guy demonstrated how flexible a bird neck is:

What you lookin’ at??

Meanwhile, Daisy did her best impression of a canine airplane:

Airplane-ears Daisy.

I guess every creature has their own way of getting through each season!

 

Daisy Performs Microsurgery

When Daisy was a puppy, she thought it was her official duty to unstuff stuffed plush toys. It took her all of 10-20 minutes on even the supposedly toughest of the lot. And there were a LOT.

Now that she’s four years old, she’s got a little more respect for soft toys and they can last for months. However, Daisy has developed a new skill – she’s become a microsurgeon.

Now this won’t hurt a bit…

She received her honorary title because where she used to cause total destruction, she now has targeted destruction with extremely minimal stuffing removal. How she chooses her targets, we don’t know, but clearly certain toys – and only certain toys – require very precise surgical skills. It’s almost like she just wants to see what’s inside, then leaves it there.

Evidently SpiderMan required some microsurgery to his arm

And Pinky obviously had an issue that Dr. Daisy the microsurgeon was able to correct.

But once in a while, major surgery is required, and Dr. Daisy steps up to the plate.

Pinky’s ears must have been problematic, because both needed removal by Dr. Daisy.

I’m happy to report that all surgically altered toys are still smiling and happy and seem to have suffered no ill side effects from Dr. Daisy’s medical talents. Whatever will she think of next??

We’re part of the Thursday Barks and Bytes blog hop!

Professor Squirrel, the Acrobat

I love squirrels, but they’re quite the little piggies. They always want the birds’ food stash. And they’ll do whatever it takes to get it – you have to admire their ingenuity!

There’s plenty of bird seed on the ground for them, but they want first dibs. They want ALL dibs.

At first they climbed up the metal pole, so we put a squirrel baffle up. They laughed and climbed over it.

Next we greased several inches of the pole beneath the baffle as well as the top of the baffle. That worked well.

For a while.

Until one very limber college-educated squirrel with a double degree in physics and calculus realized that he could figure the distance from the flower pot to the pole, allowing for the upward trajectory of the baffle to calculate the perfect launch angle. (Who says colleges aren’t what they used to be?!)

He bested us poor fools with simple degrees in literature and business.

There he is, sitting on the edge of the planter, making his calculations…

…and he takes off! Look at that mid-air form! 😀

He nails the landing and goes for the gold (food, that is!)

The food is always yummier on the other side of the feeder!

He brought along his spotter, a less adventurous type without a math degree who got his food the easy way.

Sorry for the screen in the first two pictures, I was shooting through a window and was just anxious to get pictures of this little scenario that had played out a number of times. He didn’t actually make it the first four times he jumped, but he was rewarded for his tenacity at long last. You have to admire that! 🙂

We’re part of the Thursday Barks and Bytes blog hop!

Winter Visitors and Daisy’s Poop Patch

Oh yes, Daisy always gets her own personal little Poop Patch in the snow since she refuses to go “old school”. We even make a pathway from the patio to the patch for our finicky little miss. Here’s the one from this last storm, a few days later after the snow had gone down by about half (and it’s still there):

A nice little poop patch complete with pathway from the patio. It looks smaller than it actually is.

We’ve had a LOT of wonderful visitors, even more than usual. Yet another reason why I love snow.

You can always tell from the plumpness of the birds just how cold it is!

One of my favorite winter scenes is the vivid color contrast of cardinals against the snow.

I love when different types of birds share the banquet together. Humans could take a lesson!

We’ve also had morning doves and blue jays as well as deer, but the deer dart through the yard and fly over the fence too fast for me to get my camera, so I just watch and enjoy. 🙂

We’re part of the Thursday Barks and Bytes blog hop!