Red Polls...

I didn't think we had Redpolls here...but I saw three males on my back deck here in CT this morning. According to my bird book, they are much further north.
It was kind of funny watching the birds this morning at the feeders on my deck. With all that ice accumulation on the rails, they had a tricky time of it. The nuthatches were especially comical slip sliding their way to the feeder. Yes, I felt a bit badly for them, but there wasn't much I could do about it, except put out lots of feed for them and knock the ice off the feeders. They seem to be very happy about that.

Ice Storm December 3, 2007

BLACK-EYED SUSAN ENCAPSULATED WITH ICE

We got an ice storm we over night. Not the worst I've ever seen, as I lived through the one in 1997 while living in New Brunswick, Canada. During that storm, we had no power for 3 days. It was a big one, and ruined many trees, including young birches that are forever bowed over. This was most noticeable while driving up and down the I-95 in Maine.
I heard a few branches come down with this one, but I think the damage is minimal in my area of CT. Here are some interesting shots I took this morning about 9AM.

AZALEA COVERED IN ICE

Thanksgiving 2007

Thanksgiving is over for another year. This year, we were so blessed to have my parents and my Aunt Melita visit for the week. They came early, and we girls shopped all week. Dinner was on Thursday, and they went back for one more day of shopping on Friday before heading back up north on Saturday.

We had a warm day for Thanksgiving. It reached just over 60 here. Friday was mid 40's, and Saturday morning, when we all got up at 6 am, it was 19F out there. Brrrr! But just wait few hours or a day, and the weather will change again. We did get our first snow last week, I think it was Monday or Tuesday. Lasted for a couple of days on the ground before the big warm up. It's cooler this year than last, as I checked my journal last night, and it was in the 60's for the whole week of Thanksgiving last year. They did say that this winter was going to be 30% colder than last. What I think that means is it's going to be more normal than last. But the hard part is - oil is WAY up from last winter. I paid $2.99/gallon a couple of weeks ago. This time last year I think I paid somewhere around 2.29. Now that's sad. And it's said to be going up, unlike last year where it continued to go down until February. I paid as low as 2.09 last winter. Guess we are just going to have to dress warmer this winter.

I digress. Thanksgiving. We had both turkey and ham, plus the requisite mashed potatoes and gravy, candied sweet potatoes, peas, corn, cranberry sauce, coleslaw, shrimp ring, and misc hors' dourves. We were thoroughly stuffed. We had started celebrating early in the week after a trip to Costco. Never let 3 related women shop for groceries together. Bad idea...too much food! Costco happened to be having a 'sample day'. We came out having had a 5 course meal! Seemed that way, anyway. We got Spinach/Artichoke dip with flat pretzels, Bruschetta (sp?) with Panetini (garlic bread crips), and a Brie bread ring. Needless to say, the first two were gone in 3 days. We also had two pies, Pecan pie (very good!) and apple, which tasted good, but like most bakeries, the apples weren't cooked enough. We were going to do the homemade pumpkin pie thing like every year, but got lazy this year. Too much shopping to do. :0)
I had alot of smoked ham left. Melita made her famous glaze for it, and I saved what I could of it. So good! I'm thinking of making a quiche with some of it. Ham and Egg. Mmmm....
Now - how to lose those 5 lbs I gained last week...

Red Shouldered Hawk is back...

I stepped out onto the back deck, then back in and shut the door. Then I ran downstairs to my computer. Looking out the window, there was the hawk! He'd been there the whole time I stood on the deck!
So I raced back upstairs for my camera, back downstairs, opened the door ever so gently, and crept outside. I was very casual in my approach. His back was to me, but he was watching me. Amazing how they can turn their heads around backwards like that. I would stop, look around, the raise my arm to take a shot, then a couple of feet closer, until I was about 25 feet from him. This approach was the best, because it was straight from the house, and there were no branches obstructing the shot.
I WISH I had a better camera. And, the batteries gave out after the 12th shot. I raised my arm for another shot with the zoom on and...nothing. But here is the last shot I took of him. Not so bad. I could go back out and try again, as he is still sitting there, but he was so good the first time, that I thought maybe I'd try again later when he comes again. There will be other times. He stayed here all last winter. But I have really got to get a better camera. I really like my little A520 Canon, but want so much to get something with a real zoom lense. Oh well, gotta save those dollars first.
Oops..he just flew down into the woods about 50 feet further away. He is so funny. When he first lands, he waggles his tail. In fact, it's still waggling. Maybe he likes having his picture taken! :0)

Flowers in November..

Calendula still hanging in there, and a couple of dark purple panies. The mini pink roses are looking past peak, but still pink. Black-eyed Susan's still there, and a pink snapdragon as well.
Cold last night - into the 20's. Cool today - 40's.

My husband is finishing up the leaves. Mowing them into the grass catchers, dumping them into the back of the half ton and hauling them to the landfill. Wish gas was cheaper, but oh well. Needs to be done. We would haul them into the woods, but the landlady says otherwise.
Neighbors are using a leaf blower on wheels that you push. She was blowing the leaves onto the tarp, covered up the tarp, and ran over a corner of it, sucking it up into the leaf blower! LOL! No leafblower now, back to doing it by hand.

My parents and my Aunt are coming down from Canada to visit next Friday for a week. They will spend Thanksgiving with us. We are looking forward to it.