Critter of the Day: redpoll on lilac twig
Month: January 2019
Winter says hello!
So we went from a deep freeze to above freezing, and now the snow is back. We started getting weather alerts yesterday for snowfall. Locally, the snow started in the late afternoon, but to the south and east of us, I’m hearing there was a lot more. We have a bright, sunny day right now, but we’re still getting weather alerts, this time for blowing snow. Interestingly, it’s supposed to start snowing about mid-afternoon – when we’re also supposed to be reaching temperatures of 0C!
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Critter of the Day: Hey there, Slick!
You know, when I dragged that bench out of the trees and set it up, I somehow thought it would be used as… you know… a bench.
Cat shelter is good, too, though. :-D
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Happy Epiphany
Today marks the last day of our Christmas season.
For those following the orthodox calendars, it’s Christmas Eve, so a joyful Christmas to you!
When the girls were younger, before bed, they would leave their shoes out by their doors with “hay” in them for the wise men’s camels. In the morning, there would be small gifts waiting for them.
We still give them small gifts, and this year was no exception.
After today, we start taking down the tree and decorations.
That’s going to take a while. :-D
The Re-Farmer
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Critter of the Day: What a beauty!
Visitors
I had a couple of visitors while doing my rounds this morning.
It’s been quite a while since I’ve heard one of these guys, and even longer since I’ve seen one.
What I found interesting is that, when it saw me coming, it just walked away, then stayed to watch me for a while, before finally flying off. Usually, I don’t even know one’s been around until I hear it flying away.
At one point, I was under a tree when some bits of bark and debris began falling on my head.
Why?
Because of this little lady.
Who was not at all happy to see our other visitor.
My brother’s dog came by, and even came over to let me pet him, without doing the “sneaking up from behind” shyness he usually displays. He still played a bit shy, but he seemed more interested in getting pets, instead. :-D
I just adore that dog. He is so sweet!
The Re-Farmer
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Critter of the Day: Redpoll in a lilac bush
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Critter of the Day: Hello, Jim
Warming, and comparisons
The temperature outside is not the only thing was was warming up today. This is what I saw when I looked out our bathroom window this morning.
Pretty sure that’s Big Jim in the empty water bowl. :-D
Also, they are absolutely shredding the piece of Styrofoam I’ve got partially holding up their cat cave roof! :-D
We’ve taken advantage of the warming temperatures with a quick trip into the city last night, and a trip to finally do our bigger shopping today. We’re skipping our usual monthly Costco shop this month, because of how things worked out for the holidays, but it was still worth driving into the city to get at least a modestly large shopping trip in.
Among the things we picked up today was 5 large bags of kibble for the outside cats. Going to the city to buy those alone saved us about $50-$75, if we’d bought it locally. The price range is because the stores are often out of stock of the lower priced varieties. The savings in cat food alone more than makes up for the cost of gas to drive to the city.
I had to buy a memory card. A 16 Gig card in the city cost me just under $16. A comparable card locally? Almost $25.
So it was worth the drive in, even as messy as it was out there. We were above freezing today, and everything was melting like crazy on the roads. It’s going to cool down again, starting tomorrow, so I’m glad to get the hours of driving out of the way, before everything freezes up again. Temperatures are expected to drop again, starting tomorrow, though not the deep freeze we recently had.
It should be interesting to see how the deep freeze will affect our electricity bill. Our billing cycle is mid-month, so there is a calendar overlap. Our first bill, just over a year ago, was over $300, going up almost $100 each cycle over the next few months, topping out at just under $600. During this time, the hot water tank had finally died and we were heating water every day for washing. Comparing the costs of our energy usage a year later, the bill only went up about $25 in the same time period. It should be interesting to compare the time period after we got the new hot water tank, and were no longer boiling water for hours, every day!
The Re-Farmer
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Critter of the Day: Mmm… nummers
The Re-Farmer 