More Eagles!

Can't get enough of Bald Headed Eagles! Our local couple hung out on the dead cottonwood for awhile this afternoon. Female on right, much bigger than male.

Tim Dorsey

Saturday night I went to a book signing. There were only about 25-30 people there. The author, Tim Dorsey, writes very funny books about Florida, similar to Dave Barry and Carl Hiaasen. His protagonist, Serg A. Storms is a serial killer, with several coexisting mental illnesses, but he only kills people who need to be killed. His sidekick, Coleman, is a 40 something stoner described as idiotic, but I kinda like him.  I have not actually read any of his books, I download them from the library and listen to them on my MP3. As Authors go, Tim was very accommodating to his fans. Gladly signed as many books as you wanted and started the photo line himself.

Some clown behind me took this photo. There was no hair and makeup people so this is the best I could get.

Kayak Point

On the way home we stopped off at Kayak Point to have a look at the water. The water was a choppy wind blown brown, made me want a tall glass of chocolate milk! Accross the cove at McKees beach there was a mud slide that took out two houses, don't know why we didn't take any photos, I guess we were to entralled watching the who-ha with our binocs.

Cool old Barn

This is a cool old barn, too bad it was not kept up. If you can zoom in on the tree with the big nests, look at the top nest as zoomed in as you can. What do you see in the nest?

Looking for snowy owls

There is a Snowy Owl irruption this year across the northern  US. They have been spotted just North of us in Stanwood. Last week we took a little trip to try and find them. It was the day after the Big Rain. The sun was shinning but the wind was 'bout blowing my wig off. We hit two different spots where they have been seen, but, alas, it was not to be. No Snowy Owls.  Here is what we did see.

Snow Geese!

They were taking turns doing  puddle baths.

Northern Harrier!

Also called a Marsh Hawk. He flew over Jim and checked him out up close and personal, made for a good photo opt. Bottom photo shows the trademark white feathers at the top of the tail, makes it easy to identify.

Pintail Ducks!

This was a pleasant surprise. Usually big flocks of ducks like this are plain old Mallards. 

How highs the water mamma?

I guess I could just use the pictures from last years high water and you'd probably not even know the difference, but trust me, these are this years photos. Last Wednesday it rained hard all day and into the night. Puddles formed all over the yard. When the water starts to get too deep on the high side of the driveway it somehow drains underground under the driveway and comes out under the flower garden timber in a small rivulet.

Here is the deep water on the driveway high side, it is lower than it was at 11 PM Wed. night.This never happens with just regular rain. By Thursday afternoon it was gone, but the little rivulet went on for several days.

Top photo is the hugh puddle in the front yard formed mostly be the small rivulet. The bottom is the usual very high water line on the lake side. This is probably as high as it ever gets. It is incredible how fast the water comes up.

The top of the pilings are normaly about 5-6 feet above the dock, this is probably about 3-4 feet. We had alot of wind too, and we lost one of our walkways, hopefully we can get the canoe out and go find it before someone else claims it.

SADIE

February 4th we celebrated Sadie being with us two years! She was a foster dog the first year. We adopted her officially the second week of February, not certain the exact date we sent in paperwork. Her she is just back from the hair dressers. She is 13 1/2.

Pillowcases, Catkin, Grandkids

My newest sewing project was making pillowcases for the Grand Kids. I found some fabric inspired by a book called "Where is Catkin"? The book was illustrated by Julie Paschkis, she designed fabric from her drawings. I bought the book also. Sent  it all to the Gkids for Valentines day with small heart shaped boxes of candy for all.  The Pink is for Addy the yellow, Riven.

SNOW, Hummingbird, Sapsucker

We had a total of 11" of snow mid January over about 5 days. I love the big fluffy flakes.  It gets so quiet too.

The trees were covered in 5-6" of snow with an icy undercoat. We tried to knock  the snow off some branches but the ice coating made it very difficult.  The trees and bushes look very pretty with the snow flocking, but it is hard on some of them. We had a lot of broken branches like this one on the peach tree.

The snow started on a Friday, we had plenty of supplies so we did not leave the yard until the next Thursday. We took Jim's truck. When we got back home he parked it behind my car rather than in it's usual place by the fence and trees. The next morning we went out and found the top of our pine tree broken off and laying right in the spot his truck would have been had he reparked in his regular place. It would have damaged the canopy shell and maybe even the roof of the cab. You can see the tire tracks made by the truck when He pulled out the day before, with the tree top right smack in the middle! Yikes! That was a close one.

We have been able to keep a hummingbird around all winter this year by keeping the feeder out and full of sugar water. I have two feeders, and either bring the outside one in at night if the temp is going to be freezing or just put a new one out very first thing in the AM. During the snow the little hummer used the feeder often, all day. When it is not so cold and bugs are available we don't see it as much. We put the feeder right in front of the window so we can watch it .

 During the snow we also had a Sapsucker just outside, off the deck working over the Fir tree. He pecks little holes all in a row, just deep enough to get to the sappy layer. He comes back throughout the day and eats the sap. He has many of these "hole" gardens on the tree and works at them constantly.

Sadie doesn't react to the snow like some dogs do (Rudy), by getting silly and playful, She just takes it in stride and carries on.

One more snow picture. This is a picture of the county road when we went out to get supplies. Not plowed nor sanded.  Hard to tell where the road is, you can see branches hanging over the road too. The main roads weren't much better. Parking lots! Slushy messes.

Hawk and Eagle in cottonwood

The local Eagles have been showing up pretty regularly this winter. They have a few favorite perch trees around the lake. We are lucky one of those trees, a dead cottonwood, is on the lake shore in front of our house, maybe 300' from the house and 125'+ high. This was a nice sunny day. Between Jim and I we probably took 30 pictures, of those all but 4 or 5 were deleted! I really like the ones of the eagle taking off from the branch, it's a good look at the underneath tail feathers and the talons.

Also a Hawk has been hanging around the lake for a few weeks. It sets in trees and warms it's wings. I don't know what kind of Hawk it is, do you?

Maple in Autumn

This is a beautiful little Maple tree in full fall foliage colors. We don't remember when or where we got it , years ago. It was planted by the south fence and didn't really do very well. Once we moved it to a spot with more sun exposure it really shows off its delicate shape and fall colors.