What's a dog to do?

The ever faithful Rolo dog deserves a special mention from time to time.

Yesterday as I returned from yet another quilt related outing who was it greeted me first at the back door? Why Rolo of course as it was very necessary to give me the entire sniff over to see what enticing odors had stuck to me while I was out and about. He watched while I dragged my bags inside and as I parked my sewing machine ready to take upstairs he flopped down beside it with a resigned look on his face. Perhaps he was going to guard this bag to make sure it stayed home tomorrow!


Around the middle of the day today Geoff noticed that someone had left open the closet door where Rolo's dog food is stored and that it had been like that for several hours. But the ever faithful Rolo had not taken advantage of that open door and decided to snack away. Not our Rolo.

Despite the fact that his food and water bowls are very close to where his food is stored he had not helped himself.

Here's a shot of him when he was excited to think that he might be going somewhere:



What a great dog he is. He will be ten years old on April 25.

So much for thoughts of Spring

After the heady days of temperatures in the 70's last week the temperature is 25 degrees F this morning and here is the back yard view:



But I am thankful that this is all there is as the forecast potential was for 2" to 5"of snow. And that this is only snow and not an earthquake such as there has just been in New Zealand where I have family.

It's not Indian Summer

but surely there is a term for when the weather gets unseasonably warm in mid February and everyone gets a serious case of Spring Fever.

This past week that is what we have had. The temperatures were creeping up higher each day and by Friday got to a high of 77 degrees F (which is 30 degrees higher than the average for that date).

Along with the warmer temperatures there has been a lot of wind so I was outside picking up sticks; that is broken branches and the like. My stick pile is getting quite big by now:


While occupied with that task I needed to be careful where I was walking as the first few daffodil shoots could be seen bravely poking through:


The forsythia branches are showing buds:


And I took the time to clean out the bluebird house:


It would be grand if this year a bluebird did find the box and use it! Each year some bird has a try at taking up tenancy in this real estate but in all the years it has not been a bluebird and it has not been a nesting spot that has been a success all the way through to there being baby birds. Maybe this will be the season!

Tree tops in winter

Although winter is not the prettiest season in the garden if you look around, and up, with a keen eye there are some interesting sights to see.


Earlier this week after a stretch of several dreary days we had a blue sky day. Looking out my window I was struck by the contrast of the winter hue of this cedar tree with the background sky color.


Unhappily, right next to the cedar tree there is this view of a wretched plastic bag trapped in the maple tree. I hope it is not too many more days before the wind will carry this away.


In our small town there is currently a campaign going on to name the bird that best represents our town. Artists are being asked to create and exhibit artworks of their choice of bird and the photographers are all snapping away trying to capture a prizewinning photograph. There is a red bellied woodpecker who is fond of this tree in my garden so when I saw it this morning I made a dash for the camera to see if I could take a photo to enter in the exhibit. As you can see, I was not able to zoom in close enough to get a clear photo of the bird but I did like the winter images of bark and raindrops all the same.

Maybe I'll remember in May to tell you which bird won the election.

Does a recipe live up to its name?

Last week, when the weather forecasters were correct and we were having a snow event we decided that it was a good night for "comfort food" for dinner.

The ground meat to make meatloaf was taken out of the freezer to thaw and meat loaf was made.


But we all wondered if perhaps that ground meat had been in the freezer too long as the meatloaf was drier than usual. Nevertheless, we did enjoy cleaning our plates.


It wasn't quite as dry as it looks as I poured on the gravy after taking the photo. We cleaned up the dishes and later on cut into the pie Geoff had made for dessert.

This was a new recipe, sent us by AK, and its name is Disaster Pie. H'mm.


The recipe is one that requires you to put aside all notions of how a pie is meant to be made. Despite well buttering the cooking dish first it was a struggle to get a neat serving out of the dish.


Later, when I was rereading the recipe I saw at least one suggestion that we had overlooked and that was not to use fruit that was too juicy. We used frozen peaches and frozen raspberries and the latter just turned immediately liquid when cooked. But that does not really explain why we had to chisel the slices out of the dish.

Perhaps the pie was simply living up to its name.

It was our turn today.

Yes, today we finally had the snowstorm.

I had planned to have a post about my new birdbath and how it was finally getting customers. At Christmas I went out and bought my own gift, a heated birdbath. Now, I hasten to add, it is not as though I am going to hang out a sign announcing a "spa experience". What a heated birdbath does is keep the water from freezing and allow the birds easy access to water; the water feels quite cool to the touch when you dip a finger in. For the other three seasons of the year I get a lot of visitors to the birdbaths that I have scattered throughout my garden. But once freezing temperatures arrive I have to empty those out and store them or tip them sideways.


The new bath has been in place now for almost a month and we still were not seeing any users until just a few days ago. Now we were seeing evidence left on the railing that something was using the new facility. But it wasn't until yesterday as I was out on the driveway that I looked over to see several robins, bluejays and one other bird happily splashing around. Today I left the camera waiting near the window hoping to be able to take a photo of the birds enjoying their ablutions.

But instead, we have this:

At least the water is still rippling in that bird spa! But just an hour or so later it was looking like this:

and I was getting seriously worried about the crepe myrtle tree. The dog set out from the back door but turned around and headed back inside when he found his way blocked. So I had to send out the snow clearing machine


which did a good job. The scene is not so picturesque now but all that heavy snow is not weighing down the branches of the tree and the dog took advantage of the opportunity to get off the deck and go do what he needed to do.

Meanwhile from the front window where I can see the major highway it still looks like rush hour although I can assure you no-one is rushing anywhere. At 9:15pm two lanes of traffic headed west were crawling along at maybe 5mph and on the other side, why, two lanes of traffic heading east were not moving at all. Ordinarily by this time traffic has really quieted down and there are just a few vehicles out there. On the radio they are reporting very icy roads and suggesting that people don't even leave their offices, malls or wherever they might be as conditions are so poor for driving. Schools were closed today and have already announced they will be closed again tomorrow.

My snow clearing machine measured 6" ninety minutes ago and it is beginning to taper off now.

Visitors in the January garden

Yesterday most every school district around here was closed because of overnight sleet and ice. But today, with the temperature currently showing 50 F, there is a lot of thawing going on. So I took a look around the garden to see who has been visiting.


These two, on the shady north side are looking for a way to escape it seems so I took pity on them and carried them into the garden shed for the balance of the winter.


The Pukeko family arrived by air in December and here we see them asking a local for directions to the nearest airport to take them back to a more balmy climate. They can share space with the frogs until the weather is more agreeable.

Other animals have also been visiting. I wish these ones would find some other garden to spend their time in. Every morning the dog tracks all the activity from the overnight period so while I watch I can tell how long the deer stayed looking around for nibble opportunities.


These pots came out of the garage to bask in the sun for a few hours but I had better go put them back now or I will forget them and my overnight visitors will find them.


And finally, here is a view of an area in the back garden. Through the growing season there is always something blooming here beginning with daffodils, muscari and forsythia, then bridal veil spirea, catmint, coreopsis, white and purple echinacea, heliopsis, Russian sage and ending with New England asters. But for now we have many shades of brown including the track the dog makes in the grass as he heads up the slope.