Winter arrives on the first day of Advent

We awoke this morning to a white wonderland of snow covered trees, bushes and grass. On the flat parts of the land we seem to have about two inches of snow, but the real beauty is the covering of each tree branch or bush, even the grass stems have their own individual covering of snow. Surprisingly, even the barb wire fences are covered with a tube of snow . The oaks are the most spectacular, lacy white on the few leaves remaining and each branch defined, with the larger branches showing dark on their undersides. The juniper look more like the Christmas pictures with large lumps of snow clinging to them.

As we ate breakfast this morning before going to church we watched the birds out the side windows as they hopped about looking for seeds. I almost split my sides laughing as I watched a Lewis's woodpecker try to land in a bush. Of course it expected to land on the top of the snow and instead its feet went right in until they hit the branch. After a second or two of contemplation it took off in a flurry of snow from its wings to try for another branch with the same results. After about four tries it finally found a dry branch, rested for a minute of so then flew back into the oaks to land on a trunk and start pecking for bugs.

Meanwhile a scrub jay was digging for seeds, sending snow every which way as it dug through it to the ground. Over to the side a pair of juncos were hopping up and down next to a tall weed trying to knock seeds out of it. They finally gave up and just flew up to hang on the stem while they picked the seeds out from the dried flowers. The dried sunflowers are too covered with snow to get to the seeds, but often we see the small finches clinging to them as they bend over until the bird is upside down picking at the seed heads.

Susannah and I plowed out to the wood shop to check on the feral cat that I think has been living out there. Saw it a couple of days ago when it took off as I approached. Looked like a pretty, long haired, dark gray cat it it got cleaned up a bit. I have been leaving dried cat food under the shop and something has been eating it, but I haven't seen the cat again. Footprints in the snow this morning seem to indicate that it has been living under the RV and traveling to the wood shop for food. Guess we will keep leaving food for it in the hopes that we can eventually tame it a bit. Besides, we could sure use a few less mice out there. In fact Susannah caught a couple of rats out there. Either that or the mice have gotten into the steroids. No, not the black rats of the city, we have several varieties out here including kangaroo, pack, cotton, and probably a few others. Wouldn't mind something making a meal of the ground squirrel that is tunneling under the well house and RV pad. Might even tolerate a few coyotes for that.

Speaking of coyotes, they have been getting a bit bold lately. Even saw one right next to the RV where Susannah has her compost pile. Chaco saw it about the same time I did and took off after it like an arrow. Thought for sure he might get a bite of its tail since he is pretty fast, but apparently it was neck and neck to the fence line and then Chaco let it go. Maybe that will be enough to discourage it from coming around. Doubt it though, all the neighbors are reporting seeing them along with missing cats, dogs, and chickens. I understand their pelts bring around $40, so some of the locals might have a little extra Christmas cash.

We are also on the outlook for a large mountain lion. It is not to unusual to catch a glimpse of one now and then, or hear a howl, but this one seems to also be getting a bit bold. When one stops being shy, it can become a problem. At least one steer has been killed by it, so it kind of has a price on its head. I told Susannah to make sure and take the dog with her when she goes back into the woods and quite a few around here are carrying guns when they go into the woods for any reason. Personally I would rather avoid it then have a confrontation. I did some cat tracks that were pretty good size, maybe three inches across last year. Never decided whether they were lion of bob cat.

We let the fire go out in the stove last night, it got too hot in the house to be comfortable. Still it was 71 degrees inside when we got up this morning. But it is about time to relight it, sit back and watch it and the snow, and have a cup of hot tea. It feels good to relax and rest today. I will be putting up a new 43 foot high vertical antenna this coming week for the Ham radio and have been laying the radial wires for the ground plane the last couple of days. 32 wires each 65 foot long doesn't sound like much, but it is two thousand feet of wire that is now laying out there, and I am tired. So I shall say good afternoon, and go enjoy the fire.