Trail of quail

Perhaps it's because I've been filling the bird feeder over the cold months, but we've had a LOT of quail hanging around over the winter.

Their favorite refuge is a pile of brush near the house. Originally we had plans to chip this pile, but instead we might keep it there. It offers refuge against both terrestrial and aerial predators for the quail as well as other birds.

The quail have hung around the "front porch" of this brush pile for months now.

The funny thing is, the quail are gathering in unprecedented numbers

The other day I looked down and saw a whole bunch of quail on the road.

The flock grew and swelled until there were dozens, maybe over 100, quail.

And then they all marched down the road as if following an order.

Yes, a veritable trail of quail.

The harsh reality of life in winter

Older Daughter was working in the kitchen the other day when she glanced out the window just in time to see a bird fall off a tree trunk into the snow.

At first she was inclined to think it was funny – clumsy bird! – but it soon became apparent the bird was stuck in the snow. I donned boots and waded out to free it.

The bird was a red-shafted flicker, and it was indeed stuck in the snow. Or ... something.

Did it have a broken leg? A broken wing? Whatever the issue, it was serious.

I gently picked it up. Within moments, it dropped unconscious.

I brought it onto the porch and laid it on a dishcloth just to keep it off the freezing-cold surface. It died a few minutes later.

It had no apparent injury, so my speculation is it died of starvation. This is the harsh reality of life in winter for many birds, and one of the reasons I like to keep our bird feeder full during the colder months.

Poor little flicker.

Hoof prints in the snow

We've had elk hanging around lately, always a wonderful thing to see.

While walking Mr. Darcy the other day, one hoof print was clear in the snow. I put my foot right next to it to compare sizes.

Now compare it to the hoof print of a deer, and the scale of size difference between the two species becomes obvious.

Trust me, elk are BIG.

When you're stuck, you're stuck

A few days ago, I noticed a distant pickup perched on an icy stretch of road. It's a steep road, too.

Then I noticed something else: Some poor guy was literally shoveling his way up the hill.

It was a long, steep slog for the poor guy.

Hours later, when I went out to do the evening barn chores, he was still at it.

The next day, I saw this:

He had made it a few yards higher on the slope, but that's it.

Just as I posted this blog post, I looked out the window and checked. The truck is still there. When you're stuck, you're stuck.

It is NOT SNOWING right now

You'll be pleased to know it is NOT SNOWING right now.

After all, that's what the weather report says. I believe it, don't you? This is RAIN.

Everything you see in this photos is just an illusion. I used PhotoShop.

Good thing, too. I'd hate for it to be, y'know, winter. So repeat after me: It is NOT SNOWING.....

Snow whomp + power outage

If I've been silent for the last couple of days, it's because we finally got our power back on. It went out late Tuesday night after we got a snow whomp. It looks like winter arrived at last.

I mean, seriously. While the rest of the country already had their snow whomps, we were mild and snow-free. Sure, we had some chilly temps, but otherwise bare ground.

All that changed this past week. At first it was just a soft and picturesque snowfall of a couple inches.

The cows didn't seem overly fazed.

Most of the snow melted off over the next couple of days. And then, overnight, WHOMP.

Unsurprisingly, we lost power during this blitz. Out here, the power grid goes down for seemingly any reason: a heavy snowfall, a wind, a Tuesday. We knew this was likely to happen and had everything prepped just in case.

The cows were a little more fazed by this snowfall. We decided to keep them in the corral for immediate access to shelter. Filet, our stand-offish formerly-range-cow Angus, is due to calve sometime in the next month (probably less), and we don't want to be chasing down a new baby in deep snow on the far side of the pasture.

I took a yardstick into the yard and measured how much snow fell overnight.

Twelve and a half inches of new snow, and we've gotten more since.

It almost came over the tops of my boots.

The effect was very pretty...

...especially after the clouds cleared and it turned into a strikingly sunny day.

The snowfall was an opportunity for every man in the neighborhood to climb onto whatever equipment he had available, and work to clear the road. I counted at least six different neighbors on six different pieces of equipment, not counting Don's efforts.

I kept the bird feeder filled, since I knew the feathered ones would have a hard time finding food under such conditions.

The quail had to literally break trails in the snow.

Since Older Daughter's side of the house isn't heated during power outages, she let Frumpkin (her cat) into the main part of the house (making sure Lihn the parrot was safely in her cage, of course). Frumpkin was fascinated by the activity at the bird feeder. Cat TV.

Toward dusk, we took Mr. Darcy for his afternoon walk and noted a large herd of elk, at least 25 animals, spread across a neighbor's field.

We lit the oil lamps and settled in for an evening of reading. Frumpkin was perched on Older Daughter's lap, looking quite pleased with himself.

The power stayed off for forty-eight hours, through clear sunny days and very dark nights.

Don used the back blade on the tractor to plow the lower driveway.

Frumpkin stayed in the main part of the house, looking very cute...

...while Darcy looked very worried. "That cat isn't supposed to BE here."

The power came back on early Friday morning and life got back to normal. And the elk? Well, they went strolling by right below the house. Gorgeous.