Happy NYE and a bit more snow snow snowity snow!

Happy New Year's eve! Have fun and PLEASE don't drink and drive. Impaired driving charges are no fun; injury and death are even worse. Just don't do it. Gordon really doesn't want to have to represent you on a DUI.

Now that my public service announcement is done, here's more SNOW! I took these last Friday, the day after the biggest storm:

Although we got about a foot of snow, the roads were all cleared by the next morning and driving wasn't a problem. I thought it was so pretty along this road, with the blue sky and bright sun on the snow.

But this car won't be going anywhere for a little while...

It really is pretty around here right now!

Ye olde farm is still standing.

We got a few more inches on Saturday. I had to dig a path to the birdbath and feeder. I have an immersion heater for the birdbath and keep it filled all winter.

Sophie can't normally walk up to this hanging feeder and help herself!! The snow is really deep.

The garage.

The picnic table is slowly disappearing.

Snow is building up on the barn roof.

The beehives are wearing snow hats!

Tristan doesn't mind the snow at all.

Our back deck is buried.

The cats won't be going out in their cat cage for quite some time!

Typical winter in Canada, at least, this how it's supposed to be. Last winter was messed up and too warm.

The drifts behind the barn are really deep.

The little duckhouse (we don't use it in winter) is getting buried as well.

I don't know what's going on in the hives, but I hope everyone's alive! 

Have a wonderful New Year's eve and thank you to all of you for reading my blog. I love your comments and you make me very happy. :)

Fur and feathers

Playing around with my new mini iPad the other night, I caught this typical shot of bedtime in our household...

Emily and Naomi, the "thermal camera" version!

Meanwhile, down in the barn, Jimette doesn't quite get the concept of a heated bucket for DRINKING...

All freshened up!

ANd when I came out of the barn, I found this. Amazingly, I had my camera in hand and made the dogs hold a stay until I could take one shot...

Once they heard the click of the camera, the ran towards me!

And here's Alex in the cat-trap...

He loooves boxes, but what cat doesn't?

And Emily and Naomi remain obsessed by the birds outside my office window:

Tails in action:

Hope you're all having a great weekend!

Our little mustelid visitor

The other night, we found this poor little guy trapped in a plastic barrel in our barn...

I'm not sure if he is a Shorttail or Longtail Weasel. Can anyone tell? He was fairly large.

He was in there with some black walnuts and dirt, and couldn't get out. I had been meaning to deal with that barrel, because I had envisioned an animal falling in and getting trapped! We took the barrel outside and laid it on its side in the snow next to the granary. The weasel quickly scampered off.

I was worried he was after the chickens (but our coop is predator-proof), but after doing some reading, I  have found out that weasels are expert mousers and the Shorttail and Longtail weasels rarely attack poultry. We have far too many mice around here, so I am happy to have the weasel out there controlling things!

I called him a "mink" in this video but I meant to say ermine. We used to have minks around our oceanfront home in Nova Scotia and they are quite a bit larger (and browner!) than this...

He was quite stinky but very cute. I know they can be ferocious little guys but he just wanted to get out of that barrel and I'm glad we found him in time!

Snowpocalypse

Let's get this out of the way: I LOVE winter. I LOVE a good snowstorm. I LOVE to be outside in the winter, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, walking, whatever (but I make sure I am properly dressed for the cold!) My fellow winter-lovers understand, but the rest of the world thinks I'm insane.

Maybe it's because I was born in January in Toronto (back when Toronto still had a real winter.) I dunno. But I LOVE winter. So when we got hammered with a big bad snowstorm yesterday (after it swept across the USA), I was HAPPY.

Things were already piling up on my kitchen window in the morning...

The picnic table slowly disappeared as the day went on...

The birds were ravenous! I went out a couple of times to fill feeders and spread seed. Emily was thrilled.

When I looked out yesterday morning and couldn't see the fields beyond the white spruce, I knew a good storm was revving up.

We had so many birds in our yard, including lots and lots of hungry Redpolls...

Things were pretty deep behind the barn at midday.

Not so deep behind the garage, but the bees were safe and warm...

Tristan was not impressed...

But Emily and Naomi spent just about the entire day in my office, birdwatching. Nothing like Bird TV...

Yes, I switched the plants on the windowsill. Emily wanted to eat the buds on my orchids, which are going to bloom soon, so I took them away.

A beautiful pair of Cardinals have been hanging around. It was hard to get a good shot through the snowy window, but here's the lovely male:

The cats continued to birdwatch...

And it continued to snow well into the evening. The picnic table is still disappearing...

We went out to tuck in the ducks and chickens, who were locked in the barn all day and were quite content.

Then our knight in shining tractor showed up. Bernie is a farmer on our road. We pay him to blow the snow out of our laneway. The amazing thing is, he does this backwards...

Here's a video of the expert in action:

All clear!

By my measurements, we got about a foot of snow yesterday.

The lump next to the tree is a little boxwood shrub.

Gordon had to shovel out in front of the garage doors.

And still the snow kept falling!

This morning...

...it's sunny and crisp. But I don't think the cats will be using their cage anytime soon!

And here are two photos for comparison...

Yesterday morning.

This morning!

A fine start to winter.