Ruby Tuesday

It's Ruby Tuesday again, and the holiday season is upon us. Here are just a few of our decorations. I'll be posting many more in the coming days.
Happy Ruby to everyone, and a big Thanks to Mary/the teach for keeping this meme going.
Click on her site http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com to see lots more RED.

Macro Monday

We had 3" of heavy wet snow Saturday night. After I filled my feeders the next morning I had such a large flock of House Finches that stopped by for breakfast.
Thanks to Lisa for hosting this cool meme.
Click on over to her site http://lisaschaos.com to see lots more close-ups.

Saturday at home

After a beautiful day Friday, Saturday was exactly the opposite! Really cold, grey skies, light West winds, and no snow yet, but who cares at this point. Every day we're without it gets us one day closer to Spring. Do you think I believe that? Well, let me tell you, we will pay eventually, but for now I'm lovin it! The ski resort not far from us was making snow last night and today. We can hear the humming of their machines. The temp was 17º early in the morning, perfect for the snow machines.
Tauqua and Frosty have reached an agreement. She sleeps in his big bed, and he sleeps on the floor. As I sat at my computer desk watching the birds filling up, this Titmouse came rather close and posed nicely. I'm so happy they have decided to stay. In the 30 years we have lived in this house, this is the first year I've had Titmice.
Friday night around 11PM, I took the dog out, and heard a large flock of Tundra swans over head way up high, but I couldn't see them even though the sky was clear.

Then I decided I should take a walk on the trails to check things out. We had some heavy rain on Thursday, and then a hard freeze Friday night, and there were these frozen water puddles all over.

Some of the ice patterns were pretty cool.

As I neared the creek I spotted something white. When I got closer I saw it was a Chinese Goose. Where he came from I don't know. I didn't think anyone nearby had any geese. I got a couple pictures before he swam away. He was all by himself too.

On the way back to the house I took the Llama trail which follows our overflow( from the creek ) "pond". It's ( the trail) actually about 15 ft. higher than the "pond"
, and I can see the Beavers are hard at work gnawing more lumber for their dam. I just received a rechargeable battery for my game camera, so hopefully by this week-end I'll have it out on the trails. I'd like some pictures of these beavers, and since they work mostly 3rd shift, the camera will be perfect.

I found a couple mushrooms too. I don't know how they withstood the cold night.

The Ornamental Cabbage looks like it had been dipped in salt.

We had some leftover popcorn that I put out on the deck railing for the birds. I guess Azrael wanted a taste.

I hope where you are that it is a beautiful day and that you are enjoying every minute.

Weekend Reflections

Another nice day, but oh so cold. Actually we were supposed to get snow, but it passed us by. This place is abandoned.
Click on over to James' site http://newtowndailyphoto.blogspot.com and you can see more great reflections.

Skywatch Friday

Earlier this week we had a beautiful sunny day, and it was filled with so many different cloud formations.
Happy Skywatch to everybody.
Thanks to all responsible for keeping this meme going.
Click on over http://www.skyley.blogspot.com/ to see many more sky shots.

Winter sneaking up on us

Tuesday morning we awoke to about 1/2" of heavy wet snow. I took an early morning walk on the creek trail, and snapped a few pictures. In this first shot you can see the creek itself off to the left of the trail.

This bench is so nice to sit and watch for wildlife. It faces the creek.

I thought these looked like cotton plants.

Yesterday turned out to be cloudy , but not too cold, SO we took off to the beach looking for sea glass what else. I got more in that search than I ever had before, most of it was just laying on top of the sand, so it was a really good day! Beginning Thursday we're getting rain and then probably snow.

As we were leaving the beach I spotted a very large flock of smaller Gulls flying just everywhere.

These are Bonaparte's Gulls, and apparently are migrating. They winter on the ocean coasts, and also on the Great Lakes. I've never seen them before.

There is a stream running from a small hill out to the lake, and I liked the pattern of the flow on the sand.

On the way home we saw 6 deer ready to cross the road, but when they saw our van they all stopped and turned back. Thank goodness.

I hope everyone had a safe day. Thursday I am going to sort through a ton of old photographs, and get them put in our safe.

That should take up my whole day...

Watery Wednesday

I took a walk down to the creek just at dusk Tuesday night, and could see the almost full moon shining on the water. I don't do night shots very well, but this was one I had to try.
Thanks to 2sweetnsaxy for hosting this meme. Click on over to her site http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com and see what others have posted.