February 8, 2008 - Doves are not in short supply this winter!  Every day about 30 of them flock to the feeder and fill the branches nearby.  A few deer show up in the yard now and then as well as a couple of turkeys.  Our snow depth is about half of normal, due to the two thaws we had in January.  Almost every day a hairy woodpecker grabs some seeds from the feeder and stuffs them into the base of a broken branch on the maple tree beside the feeder.  And every day one of the squirrels will hit that same spot and dig out the seeds.  I don't suppose Mr. Hairy would consider feeding Mr. Squirrel directly mouth to mouth and save all that work for each of them.

February 9, 2008 - A major winter storm has hit us today with blizzard conditions.  It was -2 this morning and we had winds of 40 mph!  Tonight I was working late (about 1 a.m.) at the computer and the motion light came on by the bird feeder.  They have been going on and off with all the wind and blowing debris, but I was very surprised when I looked up and out the window.  There on the feeder ledge with a raging, blowing storm was a raccoon filling his face with sunflower seeds!  I couldn't believe he was out in this weather!

Febuary 11, 2008 - This morning I was again working at the computer when I noticed a single tuffted titmouse at the feeder.  It wasn't moving as if it was frozen in place.  There were no other birds around, so I started looking around for an avian predator.  Sure enough, a bird flew over by the pines behind the feeder and perched in the poplar trees.  It was a merlin.  After a few minutes it flew off and down into the swamp.  It wasn't long before the chickadees, doves and other birds started coming back to the feeder.

February 12, 2008 - We had three deer hanging around the house this evening.  One came up to Sue's basket room and stuck his nose on the window, peering into the room.  I looked past it and down into the creek where some movement caught my eye.  There were two black ducks feeding in the water.

February 13, 2008 - It is three below zero this morning and it sure feels like it!  I went out to shoot some photos with the sun just coming up over Sunset Hill.  The cold sliced right through my jeans and it made my face tingle.  Even the sun couldn't make headway against this cold feeling!

February 23, 2008 – I was just outside and thought I hear a chorus of cries and shouts, almost like a pack of overly excited coyotes.  Right away I spotted a huge yellow glowing ball in the sky and realized it was just some of the locals trying to readjust to seeing the sun.  During the long winters here it can kind of freak you out when the sun magically appears and you can actually see shadows on the snow.  Even if you’re standing in snow up to your shoulders, you can still see the shadow of your head on the snow.  What a beautiful day it is, sunny with blue skies and just a little cool breeze.  The temperature is 22 and the heat from that yellow ball feels great!

 I just came back from a 30 minute snowshoe trip through the woods and cedar swamp.  I checked out a deer bed in the semi-open field beside the house.  I saw a deer bedded down in there yesterday.  I wandered back to the old two-track (at least I was two feet above it on the snow.)  As I was walking I noticed a deer bedded down by a few trees not twenty yards from me.  I stopped when I had a tree between his head and me, so he couldn’t see me.  I could still see his ears on each side of the tree.  I was carrying some old apples to put out for the deer.  I took three out of the bag and tossed them about six feet from where the deer was laying.  It never moved.  Then I continued on and headed into the woods.  I did not see as much deer sign as I expected.  There was one huge set of deer tracks, but also one huge set of canine tracks.  They were way too big for a coyote, so I think we must have a dog running wild out there.  I flushed two grouse out of a small group of pine trees and could see their tracks in a long line through the snow.  I found the remains of the buck in the cedar swamp and the animals had dug up the hide and a couple of bones.  I worked my way back toward the house and as I came up the bank out of the cedar swamp I could see the deer that was bedded earlier.  It was now standing and had moved about 20 yards closer to the house.  It watched me take off my snowshoes and when I went back out a few minutes later to take some mail out to the road; it was still standing there watching me.

  
     
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