Herring Gulls yesterday. Looks as if they're getting out of town Do they know something we don't?
Or the calm between the storm.... We are under apocalypse warnings at this time, with a strong chance of zombies. It's already kinda ugly. Snow, snow, and more snow. With wind. It is as if ma nature has dandruff and is flatulent. Guess she's getting old like the rest of us. The ground was white this morning, and wires and twigs and limbs adorned with fluff aplenty. However, the sky was fairly bright by seven or so and you could even...faintly...see the sun. Hmmm, didn't look too bad and I wondered about the Thruway being closed to trucks and schools letting out early. If this was all we were going to get..... However, that lasted about and hour, and now the dandruff is coming down hard. Birds are plentiful at the feeders and restless, as am I....restless that is, not plentiful, being one of a kind and all.....so I guess we are in for it. Again.
Working on the Farm Side. I must concentrate to write and the house is getting busy. Wish I could work in a hectic atmosphere, but I can't and that is that. I'll finish it tomorrow when everyone else is sleeping. However, here are some of the links I'm using in writing about the madness governmental plans in South Africa.
The peeps in power there have decided to forcibly take land from current farmers without compensation and give it away to others. Although this might sound fair and proper in the funny papers, it hasn't worked before and it is a lot more complicated than you might think. Land reform without compensation does not have a great track record. Soviet Union
Have you ever wondered what happens during the beforemath? No?
Around here it's cleanup. The boss plowed and plowed yesterday, got the house drive opened up. Now we have a hay customer coming so he is working on the barn drive.
There is still a LOT of snow out there. Many people were without power, some all night. Some still aren't up and running. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the sunrise was.....well, it was indescribable. Good thing there are cameras. These are exactly what the camera saw...no editing.
They say that this is going to stop some time. Not yet though. Meanwhile we are grateful for heat, light, and the internet to keep us entertained. And good food...we like that too.
Jade fed the cows so the boss didn't have to...and walked Finn for me....things were going swimmingly, until Liz looked out the front window. Oops. There is a tree right in the driveway.
Untouched photo of the rest of the driveway
Jade sent Peggy to ask if she still had a certain tool available. "Mommy, do you know where the witch hook is?" Well, no, none of us had any clue. But, then what he thinks he needs for this job is the winch hook.
Anyhow, the men are heading out to deal....again.....best wishes to all of you facing this mess. Hope you are safe and warm and dry.
Looks as if this storm is gonna to be. At four there were just a couple of inches of snow. Now the car is surrounded by a sort of reverse moat, perhaps it could be called an atoll, of snow that has sloughed off it. It's deeper than a Jack Russell Terrier.
Just ask Mack. He tried to use it as a fire hydrant and nearly fell over. Talk about delusions of grandeur. The scanner feeds are full of accounts of trees down and power out. Not good. Before I filled the feeders the little winter sparrows were digging through snow deeper than they are for spilled seeds from earlier days. Now all the feeders and the ground are thronged with mixed blackbirds, Red-winged Blackbirds, Brown-headed Cowbirds and Common Grackles galore.
Last year's Rusty
I am going to keep plenty of seed out there today, in hopes of scoring a Rusty Blackbird. We saw one last year during Winter Storm Stella, and I am pretty sure I saw one yesterday and this morning. Incidentally, thank goodness Becky is off from work! And hey, Mom, do you and Dad have everything you need? Love you..... And now the lights are flickering....
Seven male Hooded Mergansers displaying like mad for a single female. She must have been a real femme fatale, as they flew up and down the river after her for several minutes, then all landed and tried to look fancy for her. When they aren't chasing the ladies they are hot on fish and they catch plenty!
I write texts to send our boy early in the NY morning. Things he needs to know and all. Then I don't send them until three hours pass....time zones you see. It's almost time now... Spotting deer is important this time of year. Many of them stayed here rather than venturing south as they do in bad winters. They are stupid with bold and stroll right up to the road...and sometimes right across it. Just the color of the dry brown grass, they are hard to spot, but between the two of us we usually notice them in time to avoid them. Alas, motorists behind us, doing a ton, and talking on their phones, often barely miss us and never even see the deer. We stopped for these two but a tractor trailer coming the other way spooked them and they returned whence they came. Quite acrobatically.
Check this guy out. He's an American Wigeon. If you go up to Montezuma in season you will see thousands like him. However, here in our county eBird flags him as rare. I have certainly never seen one here before. The boss and I found him in the river this morning, along with his lady, a Gadwall, a couple of Northern Pintails, and a Common Goldeneye.
Hooded Mergansers
What a morning, huh?
Mrs. Hoodie
Color me happy. Sorry about the less than spectacular photos, but these ducks were way out in the river.
My only contribution was moral support, knowing where to stand, and when to move, and whether to be loud or quiet. And being bossy. I do that so well.... Many thanks to Liz and Jade for helping the boss extricate the big, horned, heifer from her mother and Bama and get her on the truck for freezer camp (as one wise farmer I know calls it). Not a job for the faint of heart or feeble of feet. She was a scary critter and her mother, Moon, is about as smart as a post. Those things, combined with Bama being just a tad on the wild side, made things interesting. It is done though and in a couple of weeks we can look forward to some nice beef. After a diet of chicken, fish, and pork from the store it will be very welcome. I think the boss has been dreaming about meatloaf.....
Yesterday it hit 75. Today it is snowing like January. We still ran down to the boat launch to look for waterfowl and got lucky. There were ducks everywhere. Some were too far out in the snow to see anything but dull outlines. However, there was a flock of Canvasbacks, which are far from common here, and tons of Hoodies and Common Mergansers. What fun!
Update: a couple of better shots from after the snow