Bird Sanctuary

Ring-Necked Doves Huddling against the Cold, Magdalena, NM, Feb. 2011

Greetings from the frozen southwest... I know we're not the only ones with crazy-cold weather so I'll try not to whine too much, but DANG it's cold here! It barely breached zero(F) yesterday (-20 or so C) and as soon as the sun went down, so did the temperatures, to at least -20F (-30C) and possibly lower but it was too dang cold for me to get out of bed and check at 5:30 a.m.! I did manage to keep the pipes from freezing by running a faucet indoors and also setting the washer and dishwasher on timers to run in the middle of the night, sequentially. So this morning I awoke to running water AND clean clothes and dishes -- looking on the bright side, yes indeed! And it's already up to 15 degrees, with strong sunshine that is warming the house nicely and even melting a tiny bit of our near-foot of snow.

Finches and Juncos in the Perennial Bed, Feb. 2011

One cool thing about snowstorms is that if you keep the bird feeders full, the birds come en masse and provide plenty of entertainment for humans and cats alike. My dad has been awesome about keeping the feeders full and also keeping the fire going, so despite a bit of cabin fever we're getting through this okay. I look forward to a weekend in the mid-40s, though; that's closer to normal for here and, you know, I live here instead of my old hometown (Philly) or Colorado or wherever because I like sunny, not-frigid winters. I do love how the snow dresses things up and have been trying to get some good photos (I confess that I shot both of these from indoors, sacrificing a bit of clarity to avoid frostbite!), some of which will surely appear in Monday Mosaics over the next few weeks. What I'm really looking forward to, though, is making photo mosaics that show the transition from winter to spring. All this snow will make for some happy roots and, eventually, happy flowers. Eventually.