We've been back in the deep-freeze again for several days. Last night it only got down to a couple of degrees below zero which seemed quite balmy. It's not that we haven't been staying warm inside but we sure are whomping through the wood. Papa Pea promises we have plenty of wood in the second shed to make it to spring but this time of year I always get a little nervous thinking about having to burn some wood that isn't properly seasoned. I do know we have A LOT of wood cutting to do first thing this spring, along with splitting and stacking it in the two wood sheds. Good thing we both enjoy wood working. My body almost yearns for all that bending, stretching and lifting. I'm ready to go at it.
My hubby made this peanut butter feeder for the birds out of a piece of maple many years ago. As soon as the weather gets cold in the late fall, I pull it out of storage, put in the first filling of peanut butter and hang it outside a kitchen window for the birds.
Then keeping it filled is a regular task all winter long. It's almost as if when the birds see the empty feeder taken in, they start lining up in a nearby tree waiting for the refilled feeder to come back out. This little chickadee pictured above landed almost as soon as I turned my back after hanging the feeder on its hook.
We continue to be very short of snowfall this winter. You can clearly still see the outline of the raised garden beds in this picture. This time of year nothing should be visible but a flat expanse of at least a few feet of snow.
And speaking of the garden, I've had seed catalogs and order forms piled on my desk (in total disarray, I might add) for going on two weeks now. I had a really good start on the task when I got involved in The Great Book Sorting Project, but in the past couple/few days since that's been finished, I haven't been motivated to dive back in and complete the ordering of the garden seeds. Maybe today?
Nope. I think not. I'm taking this day "off" except for the absolute necessaries. We have beautiful sunshine streaming in our south windows, and the combination wood stove/open fireplace in the living room is successfully making the room warm and cozy (despite an outside temp of only 3 degrees). My plans are for sitting on the couch with my knitting and a stack of library books on ideas for deck design and construction. Gotta get a handle on the re-doing of our south deck which is slated to happen this summer.
Have a great Sunday, y'all!
13 comments:
Sounds nice, MP. Sittin in the sun, maybe nodding off for a nap. Yawn.
Enjoy your day off, Chickie!
I like that idea, a deck to nap on come summer time. Maybe a nice hammock in the shade.
Sounds like a perfect day !!!
Tami - We did have sun all day, but kept a little fire perking away in the wood stove for atmosphere. I finished the knitting on the last strip of my afghan and then sat and wove in all the ends of yarn. Now I'm spread out on the kitchen table actually SEWING THE STRIPS TOGETHER! Wa-Hoo!
Tombstone Livestock - That's the problem with the deck we have now (besides the fact that it's rotting away). It's so small if we have a round table and four chairs on it, there's no room for our hammock. The hammock has it's own stand so we can put in on the lawn, but then it's a hassle to move (heavy!) every time we have to mow. So I would LOVE to have it permanently situated on the deck . . . under the huge birch tree that shades most of the deck in the afternoon.
Akannie - It has been! Now if that cook I hired would just show up (she's so unreliable!) and cook a gourmet dinner for us . . .
That's a super cool feeder! And it sounds like you had a great day "off" :)
Stephanie - I did have a really nice day off. Why can't every day be a day "off?" (Oooof, can you imagine how fast everything would fall apart if we didn't keep up with all those necessary chores each day??)
Knitting and reading in front of a cozy fire - what a perfect 'day off'. Hard to believe that's a 'small' amount of snow... but I do remember being completely amazed at your beautiful snow photos from years ago. Looking forward to seeing your new afghan soon!
AAAAAhhhhh..... I forgot to comment about your most cool birdfeeder!!! Love it!!! When our birdfeeders of black oil sunflower seeds run out, the little birds come congregate on our deck railing looking in our windows letting us know.
Lisa - I got all but one strip sewn on the afghan yesterday. Thought I would finish it tonight but I've got a headache so am fluffing off and going to bed early!
With the peanut butter bird feeder, sometimes I put suet in every other hole and they love that, too. Isn't it fun to encourage the birds to come around?
I love that feeder! The Great Book Sort is exactly what happened to me too! I thought that if I organized all my books, especially the garden books, THEN I could concentrate. Hmmm, it's all very pretty looking now but the seed catalogs are still in a basket next to my reading chair.
Erin - Knowing you have your hubby home for the summer may make you dive into those seed catalogs and start planning a little different garden. You can count on his help for any special trellises, new beds, coverings, etc. (Lucky guy!)
The birds have been absolutely inhaling the peanut butter from the log feeder lately. I buy the cheapest pb I can find for them and luckily found two big tubs of it on sale late last summer so I'm hoping that will take us to spring when the feeder gets put away for the season.
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