Tag Archives: winter

Owl

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Like so many of you this winter, we’ve had a few incredibly cold days over the last little while. The nights have been even worse. Last Friday, shortly after the post about the birds that have been visiting our feeder was published, I saw a new bird for the first time–a little owl.

Unfortunately, the sighting was a sad one. The cold had been too much for this little guy. He was dead.

Owl

He was a beautiful, fascinating creature–his multi-toned feathers, his pointy ears, his curved beak. I wish I’d been able to see him alive. I’ve heard owls around the farm, but I’ve never seen one.

Owl

I was surprised how small he was. His feathers were so fluffy that they deceived me into thinking he was much bigger than I realized. However, under his feathers, he was truly a very little guy. No wonder the cold was too much for him.

Conversations on a snowy Saturday afternoon

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“Jul, it’s me. I’m at the corner in front of your place. I slid off the road. I think I can get it out with the four-wheel drive. Can you come down and direct me?” So said my youngest sister when the phone rang on Saturday afternoon.

Me to Matt as we walked down the road: “There’s no way we’re getting that out.”

Pick up truck stuck in the ditch

Me to the farmer who rents our fields: “Will, it’s Julia from down at the corner. My sister went into the ditch in front of our place. Can you come pull her out?”

His response is garbled, as I can hear he’s already on the move: “The corner? Ditch? Tow? I’ll be right there.”

Numerous drivers, including a patrolling cop: “Is everyone okay?”

The guy at the wheel of a passing snowplow: “I can pull you out.”

Me to the farmer: “Will, it’s Julia. There’s a snowplow here. He’s going to pull her out. Thanks.”

Guy who stopped to help: “What happened? Did you take the turn too fast?”

Matt (offended): “It wasn’t me! It’s my sister-in-law.”

The snowplow driver to my sister: “Put it in neutral and don’t touch anything.”

The motorist who had pulled over to help just happened to know the snowplow driver, so he hooked up the chains to connect my sister’s truck to the back of the plow. Another motorist put on his four-ways and turned his van sideways to block the road.

Snowplow pulling a pick-up truck out of the ditch

With a creak and a shimmy the snowplow pulled the truck up the bank and back onto the road. The chains were unhooked, everyone got into their cars and continued on their way through the snow.

It was a nice example of how helpful people can be.

Birds of the farm

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Our bird feeder has been very busy this winter. Chickadees are still our most frequent visitors, but our flock has diversified quite a bit.

I spent some time hanging out the dining room window with my camera, trying to get some (not very good) pictures of our birds. It turned out that I was just in time for the Great Backyard Bird Count. The count happens over four days every February, and the goal is to collect data on wild birds to get an idea of where and how many birds there are.

Here’s a few snapshots of our little flock:

Male cardinal

Male cardinal at the bird feeder

Female cardinal

Female cardinal at the bird feeder

Blue jays

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I think this fellow might be a junco

junco

Woodpecker. I think this is a red-bellied woodpecker, but we also have a pure black and white one that visits every so often.

woodpecker2

Woodpecker facing off with the male cardinal

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For some reason, there’s an understanding among the birds that the feeder is a one bird at a time operation. The woodpecker is our most skittish bird, but he swooped in while the cardinal was still in the feeder. I swear I heard the cardinal hiss at woodie as he hopped to the roof of the feeder.

Do you have a bird feeder at your house? Who are the members of your flock? Anyone know whether I’m correct in my identification of the junco and woodpecker?

Here are the plans to build our simple bird feeder.

First snowshoe of the year

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Today is a holiday in Ontario. While I’m taking the day off, Baxter’s covering the blog.

Since coming from Kentucky, I’ve learned that fresh snow is fun for bounding and sniffing.

snowshoeing3

But trail-blazing is hard work, especially with four legs to push through the snow.

snowshoeing1

Lesson for other puppies out there: When y’all get tired of bounding, it’s okay to follow the footprints.

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Another lesson for other puppies: If snowshoes are involved, don’t follow too close. Snowshoes have tails that are easy to step on–or that can whack you in the chin if you’re not careful.

Snowshoeing with Baxter

Anyone know if snowshoes come in doggy size?

Tractor tag team

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We had a snow day last Monday. A free day. Such a luxury.

Another luxury? Not having to shovel our own snow.

Wiley has his snowblower, but he wasn’t feelin’ it last week. Fortunately, on days when we get a big snowfall our farmer usually comes by to plow us out.

Now I love our little tractor, but I’ve learned that I have an appreciation for true heavy equipment. Any time our farmer comes by is an opportunity to admire a new tractor. On our snow day, it was a huge double-bladed grader.

Grader plowing the driveway

This thing made quick work of the snow. Quick that is until it tried the bend at the end of the turnaround.

Grader stuck in the snow

The curve is deceptively tight and there was an icy layer under the snow. The grader ended up stuck. (No tractors or hydro poles were harmed in the plowing of this driveway).

Grader stuck in the snow

No worries though. This was just an opportunity to admire another tractor. Mr. Front End Loader pushed Mr. Double-Bladed Grader back into alignment, and then FEL finished off the driveway for us.

As of yesterday morning, Wiley is running again. He tidied up the top of the driveway and then pushed back the snowbanks at the bottom of the driveway. We’re all set for the next snow day. There’s another coming, right?

Have you had a snow day yet? How do you handle shoveling at your house?

Winterized

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Notice the past tense on the title of this post? We are ready for winter here at the farm.

… Well, I’m not ready for cold and dark, but the house and the property are.

I had a small project list for November.

  1. Make sure all of the gutters and downspouts are winter-ready.
  2. Remove the mower deck from the tractor (and maybe attach the snowblower).
  3. Add some protection around our new trees.
  4. Turn off the outside water taps.
  5. Take off the window screens.
  6. Transition the mudroom to winter mode and get the winter clothing out of storage.
  7. Set up the bird feeder on the driveway turnaround.

I am thrilled, proud, excited, relieved (choose your adjective) to share with you today that every single one of these tasks is done.

Here is some photographic evidence to prove it.

Patchwork brown and white downspout that regularly fell apart replaced with white downspout that’s securely screwed together.

Fixing downspouts

Weeping tile rabbit/weed eater barriers around all of our littlest trees. (How to: Cut section of weeping tile approximately 12 inches long. Slit it vertically (a sharp utility knife works well, but it takes patience). Wrap the weeping tile around the bottom of your tree).

Use weeping tile to protect trees from rabbits in the winter

Bird feeder in the ground, full of food and accepting customers.

Chickadee at the bird feeder

The thing I’m most excited about is seeing the birds at the feeder. Last year, it took them until Christmas to find it. This year it took them a day. As usual, the chickadees are the bravest, but a pair of cardinals has joined them as of last weekend.

Are you all ready for winter? What have you accomplished? Or what’s still outstanding on your to-do list?

The end

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This is the end, my friends. Not the end of the blog. Don’t worry. It’s the end of project season here at the farm.

For those that haven’t been following along since the beginning, I posted my 2014 Home Goals at the start of the year. Since then, I’ve pretty consistently done a project a month. As this is the first post of November, normally I’d be sharing with you the plan for this month’s project.

Well, there is no November project. Later this week, I’ll post the laundry room reveal, and that will be it for this year. Yes, there are a few more things on my original Home Goals list, but I’ve decided I’m ready for a break (not from blogging, just from projects).

Of course, I won’t be kicking back completely. Part of my rationale for stepping off the project train is to take care of some of the niggling little tasks that have been hanging around for a little while and maybe even start to get ready for Christmas. As well, I have a whole bunch of seasonal jobs that need to be completed so we’re ready for winter.

Matt already got a start on fall clean-up when he went over our eaves troughs with the leaf blower the other week.

Cleaning gutters with a leaf blower

Here are some of the other things on my winter is coming to-do list:

  1. Make sure all of the gutters and downspouts are winter-ready.
  2. Remove the mower deck from the tractor (and maybe attach the snowblower).
  3. Add some protection around our new trees.
  4. Turn off the outside water taps.
  5. Take off the window screens.
  6. Transition the mudroom to winter mode and get the winter clothing out of storage.
  7. Set up the bird feeder on the driveway turnaround.

Just seven. That’s about half of what I had our first fall.

So apparently I cannot stop with the projects after all. Stay tuned. It appears I’m going to be busy.

What’s on your fall to-do list? Are you feeling the pressure of a looming winter? Do you have a project cut-off point?

Walking on (frozen) water

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A week or so ago, I talked about how I was trudging around the farm due to all of the snow. Thanks to a thaw and freeze last week, it’s gotten even worse. The temperature didn’t go up enough to melt the snow very much, so it’s still deeper than my knees. Then the temperature dropped, but just enough to freeze the surface into a very inconvenient crust.

Now I take a step and with a jerk drop down through the snow. The icy crust bruises my shin and grabs hold of my boot trapping me. My boots are full of snow, my shirt is soaked with sweat and my thigh muscles are burning. Walks are brutal.

Before he jetted off to Hawaii (I’m not at all jealous), my father-in-law left me his snowshoes. They may look more suited to being decorative objects hung on a wall, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Vintage snowshoes

I strapped them on and took my first tentative steps.

Hiking in vintage snowshoes

Antiques or not, these things still work. I can walk (waddle) without dropping down into the snow. In the picture below, you can see my crash-through path from the day before at the bottom and the gentle web prints from my new footwear at the top.

Hiking in vintage snowshoes

I am not coordinated at the best of times, so I can’t claim to be graceful or quick when I add snowshoes into the equation. However, after just one weekend I am already a snowshoe enthusiast. In fact, I’m already planning to upgrade my equipment. I’m thinking something made in this century might be a good choice.

Did you try anything new this weekend? Does anyone else use vintage tools or sport equipment? Have you ever gone snowshoeing?