Monday, February 10, 2014

Warming Up...Slowly

Sunday the temperature slowly, slowly rose above freezing.  It was still pretty nasty outside, so I decided to work on Cottage Garden Samplings "July's Delphinium". Dreaming of summer on a nasty winter's day!

We lost power Saturday evening, and though we have a generator, it does not heat the house.  Our family room with a wall space heater and the fireplace is by far the warmest room in the house.  Thus it is Cat Central!  Parvati still indicated her general discomfort by curling up chipmunk fashion!

I did like this winter bouquet!

The air temperature became warmer than the ground temperature and the fog moved in.

The Big Creek is running fast and muddy.

Poor birds!  Don't you think they'd be better off with hats like these guys?

I did not have any birds for most of the day.  
But once again in the late afternoon the feeders got busy with Chickadees...

...and Golden-crowned Sparrows.

Yet another female Flicker you say...boring!
Not so fast!  Look closely at this gal's tail feathers and you'll see a flash of yellow!  Flickers east of the Rockies are yellow shafted, and those west of the Rockies are orange shafted.   

Guess who's hanging with the Flicker?

The little Yellow-rumped Warbler, that's who!

I like this photo as you can see just how much smaller my little Downy Woodpecker is as compared to the Flicker.  Both are members of the woodpecker family. 

I'd not seen any deer once the snow began on Thursday.

They showed up in force late Sunday and ate hardily of the spilled bird food.

As of 1:00pm Monday we still have no power.  Our utility says that it is down restoring power to just 900 customers, so I am hopeful that we'll get power before this this evening.  I cannot complain as with our generator we have lights, and hot water.  We can cook - microwave and stove top -(no ovens).  We can run the dishwasher and the vacuum. Our fridge and freezer run so no food spoils.  With flannel sheets and a down comforter a 58f bedroom temperature still makes for a cozy night's sleep. We are safe and warmish and our critters and forest have made it through the storm generally unharmed.  I cannot ask for anything more!

Depending on when cable and internet serve returns I may still have delays with future posts. 

10 comments:

Bianca said...

Beth, I am glad to hear you are managing just fine without power. Nevertheless, I hope it gets up and running soon!

Margaret said...

Oh my gosh! Well I'm glad you are managing ok. But I sure hope that power comes back asap!!

Katken said...

Yes....I missed you!! Sounds like you are having quite the adventure weathering the storm. Good to hear from you. We r having quite the winter here in StL. Take care!!

Pam in IL said...

Glad to hear you have provisions to handle the power outage. Hopefully it will come back on soon. I'm relieved you're not having the -20F temps that we're having right now.

Barb said...

I sure hope you have your power back by now. Oregon is really making the news up here. You definitely have smart cats!! Wonderful collection of birds!! In this weather they need all the help they can get.

Sherry said...

I hope your power comes back on soon. Flickers are never boring! I wish they came around here more often! I had so many bluebirds checking out every house in our yard earlier this week.

Kathy Ellen said...

Stay cozy and warm as you can. Hope that you have your power back with all of that icy cold snow! Parvati has the perfect solution for staying warm....just curl up into a little bundle and cozy right down, snug as a bug in a rug!

Beautiful snowy scenes. We missed having a snowstorm Sunday night and only had about 2 inches, but a really big storm is headed our way on Thursday night.

Pull out your stitching and enjoy!

Blessings!

Chris said...

So glad that you have a generator. I hope that power has been restored. Ice is so damaging.
Lovely pics, especially that little feisty warbler :)

Cindy's Stitching said...

How nice that you have a generator. The cat picture made me laugh. The bird pictures are really pretty. I hope you have power back soon.

Catherine said...

So sorry you have lost your power, I hope it comes back soon ~ and at least you have the generator!