enough snow already!

Yesterday we endured another vicious storm with high winds and white-out conditions, even on the main street in Charlottetown!

22 centimetres blew around in huge drifts.

Even the churches are expressing their opinions that all this snow is getting out of hand.

Our compost bucket was full to overflowing, but I wasn't looking forward to dumping it. Usually it's a pleasant walk through the back yard to the composter, but it's different now. There's at least 3 to 4 feet of soft white stuff back there. I have resorted to strapping on my skis to avoid skinking to my waist with every step, but even that was a problem yesterday. Hanging on to the compost buckets meant I couldn't use ski poles. Struggling up the first hill, I did more sliding backward than moving forward. When I finally made it back there, I found that the compost bins are fast disappearing, and I had to bend down almost to ground level to dump the stuff.

woodpeckers

I have always had trouble taking a decent picture of the woodpeckers that occasionally visit my feeders. They move really fast, and don't take kindly to posing for me. But this Sunday was different. The sun was shining, it was really cold, and these two paid an extended visit and didn't care who was looking.

I finally know why this species is called the "downy" woodpecker. At the base of the bill is a frill of fluffy feathers. Maybe the purpose is to protect the eyes from flying bits of wood when it is drilling a hole in a tree.

This guy was pecking the table to liberate sunflower seeds frozen in the ice, and ended up with ice in the down around his beak.

more winter birds

This morning I was having breakfast when I heard a loud bang. I looked up to see a blue jay had just beat its wings against the window and was perched on the rail of the deck, his beady eye staring straight at me. I got the message loud and clear: get outside, clear off this snow, and feed us birds!
A 50-pound bag of black oil sunflower seeds is $30, and I just bought the second one this winter. Also, suet is $2 a block, and the winged wonders have munched though at least 10 so far this winter. And I won't even mention what I have spent on bird feeders. Luckily,birds don't charge a fee to pose for pictures!
Here's a lovely mourning dove.

Here's a jittery little dark-eyed junco. These little cuties seem to be almost completely round, with a grey top and white bottom.











Taking pictures of downy woodpeckers is such a challenge.
I've taken lots of pictures of them over the past few years, and the shots are always out of focus. But I'll keep trying!

Flowers in winter

It's January on PEI, and this is the coldest it's been this year. We are hitting 20 below centegrade. Snow has frozen into concrete, and any exposed skin hurts. My water pipes froze this morning.

But on my windowsills, it's a different story. Flowering plants of many colours are peeking outside while blooming their heads off, giving me hope that winter is just a state of mind.

This Christmas cactus has stunning fuchia flowers.

This is my first orchid. I have found a lot of conflicting and confusing advice on the Internet about how to care for it, so I hope it will survive my bungling attempts to keep it alive. It seems that there are more species of orchids than there are species of mammals! And they don't seem to need many nutrients - most of the roots are above ground.

These forced crocuses encourage me to think ahead a few months to when they will be poking through the snow and most of winter will be behind us.

Companion plants

Last fall, I dug three geraniums out of their outside pots and brought them inside. They have been enjoying the sunshine in my office window, and so have some strangers. In one pot has sprouted pale green, bean-like leaves that I'm guessing is a sweet potato vine (above). I dug it out and gave it its own space, and it is taking off like crazy.
In another pot, I suddenly noticed a tomato seedling almost as big as the geranium it is happily sharing space with. This will not end well. I can't imagine what would happen if I continue to let them cohabit.
So how did these strangers become companions? One geranium came from an outdoor arrangement that contained some sweet potato vines, and I suppose a piece lay dormant for months and suddenly decided to spring to life. But the tomato is a mystery.
It is endlessly fascinating that plants will spring from wherever they can find a foot hold. But it also gives me hope that no matter what we do to this planet, life will persist.

Visitors to the bird feeder

Here are some of the rarer visitors to my birdfeeder: house sparrows. They notice any movement inside the house, and scatter immediately. But I managed to capture these two.

Not to be left out of the fun, here's a red squirrel who cleans out the feeders every day. So far, it has been just one visitor at a time, but I have heard two of them chattering and chasing each other through the trees.

And the most unusual visitor: Amber the cat. She is 16, although you would never know it by the way she can get up on the deck railing and balance on a 4-inch wide board covered with snow and ice. Even in a snow storm, she stands on guard.

Our feathered friends in the snow

After a slow start to the winter, we are getting dump after dump of the white stuff. It keeps me and my snow shovel busy, and it also gives me the chance to check out the neighbourhood birds.

And I get to stalk them with my camera. These pics are taken through the glass of my deck doors, so they are not as clear as they should be.

The chickadees are fearless, and will pose willingly for me, but the bluejays, even though they are bigger, are much more skittish. Any move from me inside the house, and they are gone. The grapevine that twined around the deck

makes great bird perches and helps to secure the bird feeders so they don't blow around as much.

Sparrows and goldfinches (in their drab winter plumage) and a downy woodpecker also visit the feeders, but they are even harder to capture on camera.