It’s almost the end of February and we’re having the worst weather of the winter! This past week, our temperature dropped to minus 12 with a wind chill of minus 30 and more snow. Our schools were closed three out of five days last week.
My friend, Kim, and I are really getting tired of this weather! Daylight saving begins on March 8 and spring officially arrives on March 20 … that’s only four weeks away but seems like a very long time.
We had so much snow on Saturday, our friend, Gary, had to plow us out again!
The birds and other critters are having a very difficult time with the snow and cold so we fill the dozen feeders on the homestead at least six times a day. Even the pileated woodpecker arrived to help himself to suet. It’s been tough for all the wildlife out here.
The resident Cooper’s hawk is having a tough time also. He appeared the other day to grab one of the birds. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to be the most proficient hunter. He tried to grab one of the birds and flew right into the sliding glass door. He hit so hard, the bird got free, flew away, and the hawk hit the snow on the deck, leaving his full body impression in the snow.
The poor squirrels are also having a tough time. The little red squirrel buried a lot of acorns in fall but with the snow cover, he has resorted to raiding the bird feeders for sunflower seeds.
Even the black squirrel made an appearance to help himself to sunflower seeds. He’s usually very elusive.
I also feed all the rabbits who come by in the evening. I’m afraid I’m really spoiling them … I always buy organic vegetables during the winter so I’ve been giving them organic carrots each evening. They are becoming a little picky; well, very picky! If I put out regular carrots, they ignore them! I can imagine them sticking up their little noses, saying, “hum, where are the organics?”
I also put out other vegetables, like organic lettuce, which they completely ignore! Evidently, the only lettuce they like is the organic lettuce straight out of my garden in spring!
Samson and Delilah are doing really well with the cold and snow. They are nice and warm in their barn, playing with their toys. They have “jolly balls” that they play with plus rubber buckets.
Samson enjoys throwing around his ball and bucket. He also takes his bucket in his mouth and pushes the straw bedding in his stall into big mounds. I’m not sure why he does that but he has a lot of fun getting himself covered in straw.
Delilah plays with her bucket also but her favorite is the old rug in the barn. She enjoys pulling it into her stall and then trying to give it to Samson.
I wish I had a surveillance camera in the barn so I could see what they do when they have to be cooped up in the barn … or, maybe I DON”T want to know what they do all day and night!
A few days ago, there was a mole in the barn near their stalls and it completely freaked out Samson! He watched it crawl around, his ears straight forward. Then he jumped and ran around his stall. He can be such a big baby sometimes but at other times, he acts like a big bully!
Delilah is very laid-back and just took the mole’s presence in stride, ignoring it completely but looking at Samson’s actions as if to say, “Oh, grow up!”
To quote Jackie Gleason, “how sweet it is” out here on the homestead even with the long, hard winter.
