Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Winter has really arrived


After many extremely light dustings, we have finally gotten our first snow this winter. I am somewhat disappointed, I was kind of looking forward to being able to say that we went an entire winter without snow. But that is okay, Chris and the boys are out enjoying this hill right now, sledding and snow boarding. We had around 3 inches, enough for them to get the toys out.

One good thing about the snow is the ability to see the wildlife much easier. The deer tracks are everywhere. The birds are flocking to the feeders. So many birds that I have had to refill the feeders more frequently. I was also able to put out the suet cakes that I made earlier in the season. The temperatures have been to warm to put them out until now.
We have a 3 legged deer making a home on our property. We haven't seen her up close to figure the situation out. It doesn't get around as if it was born that way, sort of gimpy. But it is nicely fat, suggesting it gets around well enough to eat. It is quite amazing to watch.

My Amaryllis is really starting to take off. See the big fat flower bud? In the two days since this picture was taken, it has gotten even bigger. I am getting more excited to see it bloom!

My Zygocactus (aka Christmas Cactus and sometimes also called Holiday Cactus) is blooming again. It sure does have pretty blooms and once it starts, it will bloom for quite awhile. It is also quite easy to take starts from it, just break off one of the flat pieces and stick it in dirt. I have also found my cat River gnawing on it and it has survived him. Very durable, as most cacti are.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Great pictures! Your 3-legged deer does look like she gets around well enough to eat. And she has a very sweet face. :)

Marc said...

I have never heard of a three-legged deer. I'm surprised it is able to survive. Nature can be pretty resiliant! I am one state below you and we just had our first snow as well. Don't you usually get a lot of snow?

Great blog! I just found you from Garden Voices and am looking forward to looking at your back posts.

Angie said...

blackswamp_girl, she does seem very sweet. when I took this picture, she had been licking and cleaning herself. She stayed right there for around 2 hours!

Angie said...

marc, Thank you for your comments! I am in central Ohio, right below the lake effect area. We usually only get one or two snows in the winter. It is normally just cold and gray here...absolutely miserable! If we lived 30 minutes north, we would have snow most of winter.

Ki said...

I haven't seen a 3 legged deer yet but we did have a white deer that came around frequently with about 4 regular deer until it got hit by a car. Very sad to see it lying along the roadside. Within a day it was gone before I could get some pictures of it. I guess someone wanted the pelt. Usually roadkill deer aren't picked up all that quickly even in the Summer when they can get pretty ripe and stinky...usually the township and county arguing about whose jurisdiction it is.

Angie said...

That is so sad that it got hit. I have heard that there are many white deer around here, but I have never seen one.