Overcast Friday.

Woke up to a brush of snow on the ground this morning and temperature at one degree.   I wasn't long putting a fire in the wood stove.   It was a wee bit nippy in the house.

My daughter came for a visit last week and stayed for five days.   I really enjoyed the visit.  Too bad that it was wet and miserable for most of the time.  She brought me a couple of great gifts.   She's a wee bit like me when it comes to strange stuff.

The cats are a bit ticked off with regards to the weather.   They've been inside sleeping more than usual.  Malachi was out on the railing the other day in a light rainfall.   He was not happy but wouldn't come in.   He had a terrible grumpy look on his face.

A few pictures taken last week.   Nothing terribly exciting.

Almost Snow Time.

We had our first brush of snow a couple of days ago.  It came down heavy for about fifteen - twenty minutes then stopped.  It didn't stay as it was melting as it hit the ground.  Today started out overcast and wet but it's now turned into a beautiful sunny one.

It's amazing that some of the Phlox still has some blooms on them given the nights of hard frost that we've had.

It's hard to believe that another year is almost over.   I remember hearing my grandmother say that the older you get, the faster time flies.   She was right.

It's late in the afternoon now and it's gotten overcast and dull once again.   Here's Malachi looking out at the dismal afternoon.

Another baby asleep on the back of the sofa.

Lovely Sunny Day.

I finally got a chance to get on the roof and sweep off the piles of leaves that had built up.   Because I'm surrounded by big trees, in the fall I'm overloaded with the leaves.   I also brought up my can of roof patch just to have a look and make sure all was okay.   I saw a couple of what might be worry some spots so just to be sure I put some patch on them.   We've had a couple of lovely sunny days so I've been trying to get more stuff done in preparation for winter.  Yesterday I spent a good part of the day putting plastic on the windows, well, most of them.  They are single panned, very old windows and the cold comes through them easily.   I use the stretch plastic, the stuff that after it's on you use your hair dryer and end up with what looks like glass.   You can't tell that there's plastic there.   I love it.  I think I'm pretty well ready now for when the snow flies.   I just have to bring the shovels, my sled to haul up wood and my snow blower down from the shed.

Frankie enjoying the sunny day.

Malachi being lazy.

Tommy on bear patrol.

Fairy Glen and Other Things.

I have the garden put to bed as much as it's going to be.   It's hard to keep up with it as I've gone too far for one person to handle with all the spaces I've used up.   On saying that....I am blushing....in late summer I cleared away a nice size area to make a Fairy Glen.   Yes, I don't have enough to do already, ha ha ha.  I'm not putting all the houses etc in there until spring but here are a few things I've placed there and a couple of things I've made so far.   I figure it will be a work in progress over the winter.

Here is a look at the Glen with just a few of the things I've placed there.

I've made this stone house (more to be made) and six of these toadstools.

These days I'm trying to prepare for winter.   I have most of the pots emptied and now just have to store them.  I've been sawing up some small wood every chance I get to use to start the fire in the mornings.  I have to bring the snow shovels down from the shed and also the snow blower.  Also the small sled to haul the wood up to the house in the mornings.  I'm trying to get everything at the ready.   There's a few things still to put away but I should get to it all before the snow flies.

October's End

Here we are at the end of October and heading fast into winter.   This year has been just a blur in many ways.   Seems like it went far too fast.   It's the first year as far back as I can remember that I didn't do much decorating for Halloween/Samhain.  I couldn't get into it somehow.   And the first time in ages that I'm not having a party.   It's been a funny sort of year.   I did paint some twigs, put them in a pot and strung purple lights around it.  I thought it looked pretty.   And a little bit of orange on an end table.

This past week I've had a bear around.   I got up one morning and saw that a full bag of garbage had been hauled off the deck and ripped to pieces.  While picking that mess up the thought that it could have been a bear made me look at the bird feeders and the two block suet feeder was gone.  He had to climb the tree to reach a branch and pull.   Only the wire that was attached to it was left hanging.   Of course I should have know there was a bear about because a few days before that one of the feeders that had been high up on a post was flat on the ground, post and all.   We'd had a lot of wind so I just figured it had blown over although the post was broken off at the bottom.   Needless to say I've been cautious when outside.   Two days ago I had some stuff to bring up by the woods to the bonfire pile and spied the lost feeder over by the woods.  The suet was gone of course and the feeder was smashed to bits.  It was a fairly expensive one too that was made so only the small birds could get into it.   And was made with heavy wire.

This is what's left of it.   Only good as a conversation piece now.

My oldest cat, little Freya, is no longer with me.   She had lost a lot of weight, was only skin and bone really and was hardly eating.   I can't bear this having to make a decision to have an animal euthanized.  It broke my heart.   Only the three boys left now.

Well, that's about it for now.  

Roof Problems.

Up on the lower roof twice yesterday.   Although I thought I'd been keeping most of the snow off an ice damn had built up on the edge of the roof once again and another one about two feet behind that.  After much pounding with the back end of an axe and chipping part of it away, then shoveling what I could off, I was beat.   I really only managed to make enough of a break in the built up ice to at least let some of the water work its way out.   Something will have to be done this spring to fix this situation.   I've heard of liquid rubber and liquid plastic that can be applied to low roofs to keep water from seeping through and coming into the house by way of the ceiling.   Fortunately I only have this problem in one room but that ceiling will have to be fixed as well.   My body is aching all over today.   The joys of home ownership!  I need a young fellow at my beck and call, lol.

Half way through March and winter hasn't been too bad at all.   No complaints from me.   Not long until April and hopefully the worse will be over.   The garden is still covered in snow.  Only about a foot of it over most of it.

Lots of birds at the feeders.  I have a feeling that we may get an early spring out of it.  The red you see in the feeder is something I had to put inside because one of the squirrels had chewed through the wire that holds the seeds in and they were falling out.   I don't know what to do about it as I have to keep raising the red thing higher and higher.   At this rate the feeder will soon be useless.

A bit of a fuss between a chick a dee and a finch.

After the trouble I had with Tommy last year when I put up the Ostara Tree, I had decided not to bother this year.   A friend convinced me to try again so I went and cut some branches and while the boy was asleep, I stuck them in a high container where I had some flowers.   Put tiny lights and lots of eggs on it and took a picture.    About an hour later I saw something move out of the corner of my eye.   There he was on one of the steps, banging the eggs about.   There was no way I could get him to stop so I took it all apart.   I was so disappointed as it did look pretty.

The tree that WAS!

That's about it for now.   Must get going again.

A Very Windy March 1st.

Here it is, March 1st. and I can't complain about this winter at all.   We had a few good snow falls but some lovely mild days as well.   Most of the snow has disappeared and I can't say I'm sad about it.   When we had the last heavy snow fall I found it was hard for me to clear the path and driveway.  This old body just can't seem to do as much heavy work as it use to.   So, being frustrated about it I ordered a small snow blower.   It arrived a couple of weeks later and I did get to use it one time, worked like a charm, and we haven't had any amount of snow since.   However, there's still time for lots more of the stuff.

My new helper.

Lots of birds around now.   I hear singing just at daybreak most mornings when I'm filling the feeders.   Makes me think that it will be an early spring.  Fingers crossed.

A couple of weeks ago for some reason I remembered a long light blue cotton fabric coat that my daughter had given me years ago.   She had painted some pictures on the back of it and only did so many on the left side of it.   I had shoved it to the back of the closet planning on some day when I would try my hand at finishing the painting.   I brought it out and had a look.   Then I bought some fabric paint and went to work.  I'm pleased with the result.   Laurie painted most of the left side and I finished the rest.

I'm off to Gander this morning to have blood work done at the hospital and then shopping.   We're to have some rain, glorious rain today.

Shoveling Again.

We had a pretty good snowfall overnight.   Around 5:00 am I was out shoveling the decks and stairs and pathway to the driveway.   Brought in wood and decided to take a break before doing the driveway.   I'm now finished the driveway but will be down there again once the plow goes by and fills part of it in again.  

The crows came early this morning.  I guess it's hard for them to find food when there's snow on the ground.  They filled up on dried dog food and cracked corn.   The smaller birds were into the mixed seed and sunflower seeds.   Lots of Juncos around.  I haven't seen many Blue Jays which is surprising.   Of course it hasn't been that cold and we've had quite a bit of sunshine so they've probably gone off to other places.

I took this photo of Tommy early the other morning and was amazed at how his eyes picked up colours in the room.

Another on of the boy:

After the last snow fall.

Winter storm.

6:15 am and I've just finished clearing the two decks, stairs and pathway to the driveway.   It's still too dark to do the driveway so will wait until daylight.   Although we had somewhat of blizzard conditions yesterday, the snowfall wasn't as bad as I thought it would be on getting up this morning.   Still, there was enough to bring out the shovels.   Actually January temperatures have been surprisingly good.  Hovering around minus 3, minus 5, most days.

Christmas was one of the best ones I've had in some time.  My granddaughter flew in from Ontario, unbeknownst to me and the Tuesday before Xmas her and my daughter drove out from St. John's and surprised me.   I was overjoyed to say the least.   Best present ever.   I figured I'd be sitting here alone once again.   So, we had people in on the afternoon of Xmas eve and had a grand time.   They had to go back after lunch on Xmas Day as Hilary had to fly back to Ontario the next day.   I'm still smiling when I think about it.  

Then a couple of days later I came down with the flu.   I can't remember when I last had a cold or flu and don't know where it came from.   I was feverish, terribly bad sore throat, bones aching, the whole scenario.   I think I spent most of the week sleeping off and on during the days.   However, I recouped pretty fast all things considered.  

Now of course it's time to dream of working in the garden as the seed catalogues have started to arrive.  I will be getting my note book out to start writing down plans and things that need to be done come spring.

A few pictures taken this past while.

Tommy in the wrapping paper.

Other stuff.