Some thoughts from the mountain

Post by **DonnaT** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 6:38 am

We ended up with about 24 inches total.

Had to shovel the driveway three times to keep up.

Much of the front yard now has piles of snow around 5 feet high.

I wonder how long it will take to melt?

Virginia · Post by **Virginia** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 12:28 pm

Well we went out for a few minutes yesterday, damn that stuff is deep but the "kids" (our birds, as SL calls them) did seem to appreciate our refilling their cafeterias. The doves are weird. We counted 19 this morning just sitting in their tree, either asleep or trying to keep warm as all the other birds attacked the feeders.

Oh, we had an avalanche, small but all the same it was definitely an avalanche. It was about 50 - 60 yards from the house but a bunch of snow slid down the mountain. That's it, skiing, I can learn to ski, but where would I ski to, and I don't have a ski lift, could build one, how about a winch, yeah, oh, damn, I forget, skiing has the three things this gal hates most - it's wet, it's cold and it's dangerous!

Yet another beautiful day, snowed in with my soulmate!!!!! I love it!!

Stay fluffy, girls

Virginia

Carol Ann · Post by **Carol Ann** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 8:41 pm

Virginia,

Doves are ground feeders, you will never see them on your bird feeders.
Gee you got more then me, when I can count 20 or so they will be in my oven.

SilverLady(SO) · Post by **SilverLady(SO)** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 8:55 pm

Carol Ann wrote:Doves are ground feeders, you will never see them on your bird feeders.

Well, someone should tell our doves that

. . . I've got photos of them eating at all of our feeders (which are in various styles). We even had 3 of them on one feeder at the same time. I'll have to re-size my photos and upload them to the gallery.

Hugs!

- SL

DeeDee · Post by **DeeDee** » Mon Dec 21, 2009 10:16 pm

UMMM..whats a mountain anyway?
Hugs
DeeDee

Absaroka · Post by **Absaroka** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 7:34 am

we were limited to a little under a foot of snow. My eldest daughter was home and the whole family cuddled in front of the tree and felt like bears in their cave. A very nice weekend.

Virginia some folks like cross country skiing which is less expensive. My wife does it a lot before they plow the roads.

Zari

Carol Ann · Post by **Carol Ann** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 9:18 am

SilverLady,

I believe you about your doves but I only have one feeder out and there just isn't enough room for big birds. My dove feed off the seeds dropped on the ground.

April Rose · Post by **April Rose** » Tue Dec 22, 2009 11:11 pm

Doves really are weird. We have bunch of light brown ones that hang out on the gravel road next to my house. About two years ago they graded the road, and the doves disappeared. This year they graded the road again. The doves came back.

Virginia · Post by **Virginia** » Wed Dec 23, 2009 1:58 pm

Lydia could probably give you more insight to the dove, but you may know this, they have to use the gravel to "digest" their food. They have two small "sacs" = their craw. Thus the term "something stuck in your craw!" They eat tiny pieces of gravel that they swallow into the two "craw sacs" and then as they eat seeds, the craw kind of "grinds" the seeds to make them more digestable, so that is why you often see them "eating gravel."

My encyclopedic donation for the day!

Virginia

SilverLady(SO) · Post by **SilverLady(SO)** » Thu Dec 24, 2009 10:24 pm

A photo of the dove on our feeder has been uploaded to my gallery album, as well as pics of our resident deer family and a temporary houseguest, Mr. Chickadee.

- SL

Lydia · Post by **Lydia** » Sat Dec 26, 2009 9:25 am

Hi SL,

Your dove is a species called: Mourning Dove (so-called for its mournful coo). Recognizable by a pair of white feathers on either side of the tail - most visible when they fly with a noisy flutter.

We don't have them down here, but there are many other doves around.

Happy 2010,
Hugs,

Lydia

Virginia · Post by **Virginia** » Sun Jan 03, 2010 10:32 am

Hi Giirrrllllssss!

Damn, any one else cold??? We have two thermometers and both are showing 7 - 8 degrees! The sun is shining and there is not a cloud in the sky and the wind gust are very high. One gust blew our snow shovel off the porch. We have not replaced our other entry door and it is a single pane. Ice has formed on the inside of the windows!!!! The neighbor's German Shepard, "Brutus," just came by for a visit and the snow is so frozen he did not even leave any tracks!

The poor little birds actually seem to be doing fairly well. I put the food in a big plate with a big rock in it (on our front porch) and the wind has not blown it over, yet the food is scattered around. I saw one gust actually blow one of our larger feeders out perpendicular to the pole. The birds liked that because a lot of food spilled out on the snow!

We are up to four resident squirrels and they, like most "tree rats," are smart. We sprayed the feeder poles with oil but they are so agile, one actually was able to leap from a near by tree, 8 - 10 feet or so, and land deftly on the feeder. Any animal that will go to that extreme, it is hard to deny them access to food.

We saw one deer along the road yesterday, but have not seen our resident four since before the 18" of global warming that fell over a week ago.

Stay warm ladies, our forecast is for a high in the low 30's all week!

Virginia

Wendae · Post by **Wendae** » Sun Jan 03, 2010 12:52 pm

It's terrible here. Was 40 when I got up.

Rikki · Post by **Rikki** » Sun Jan 03, 2010 3:05 pm

Virginia,
Quit with the whining, please. You're still in the + numbers.

Virginia · Post by **Virginia** » Sun Jan 03, 2010 8:30 pm

HI Rikki,

I just got weather bulletin!!!! Calls for -5 to -15 tonight not counting the wind chill!!!

Can I whine now!?

Love,

Virginia