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Thursday, January 8, 2015

Balaclava weather

The thermometer has done duty since 1988,
recording hot, cold, and everything in between.
Today is -4F, as you can see.
No school, too cold.
I won't mention my childhood here.


Little girls, filling bird feeders.
Our neighbor passing by, coming home from his night shift.


 We made an unexpected trip to the bird seed store last night, for two purchases.
The first, to replace a seed block I'd received for Christmas.
A hairy woodpecker attached himself, and ate it all in ten days; I wonder if he simply sleeps on it at night.
Although it is gone in ten days, such appreciation needs rewarded.
That cylinder on the bench is the replacement.

But the big topic under consideration--we have put out more feed this year.
We also purchased forty pounds more of two favorite seeds.
Twice as many birds or birds eating twice as much?
Maybe half one, half the other.
Too much math. I may request an increase in my pension. HaHa.



Yes, I took the pictures through two closed doors.
That is frost on the storm door.
It is four below.



When it warms up a bit (ten is forecast), we'll make a trip to the store
to buy a balaclava for Emily to wear this weekend, as she loads the lifts.

On the way back, some bird pictures, from the comfort of my warm car.


I stopped this afternoon for the picture of the woodpecker who lives on a bird feeder.
Just as I was getting him in focus, Laura came out with the trash.
Tomorrow is trash day.
The bird flew away.
It's a red bellied woodpecker.


27 comments:

  1. -6°F. Beat ya. :-)

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  2. Our car won't start!
    Keep warm, Joanne and family.

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  3. She is going to earn her money in this weather!

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  4. Fortunately for me my experiences with sub-zero temperatures are all a thing of memory! Many is the morning we would come down for breakfast and my mother would say, "It's 10 below zero" or "Six" or whatever. We still had to leave the house to catch the school bus -- scarves, hats, gloves/mittens -- the whole lot -- trying to keep the insides of our noses from icing -- very annoying that!

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  5. I read this as baklava weather, ha, perhaps I have a craving for some, stay worm, now I have to look up what a balaclava is

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  6. Looking at what you're going through - I promise that I'll never moan about our weather again. I bet the birds all love Emily and Laura.

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  7. You are colder than we are here....only made it to -4F yesterday. Today is a little warmer.

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  8. My Columbus OH sister Mary sent me a link showing the official temp. in her world. Same dismal news.

    The glass on the door pane reminds me of my childhood. Those birds are lucky to have you.

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  9. Isuspect more birds are coming for your extra food Joanne - word soon gets around in the bird world.
    We spend a fortune on bird food but then we don't go out all that much in Winter and we get such pleasure from watching the birds. Very cold and windy weather is forecast here for the weekend so we shall aim to keep warm.

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  10. It's ffffffffffffreeeeeeeezing!
    Jane x

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  11. Brrr!!! Wise idea to get Emily the balaclava if she is working this weekend. Bundling up the best she can will be the order of business for sure! I'm thinking twice as many birds coming to feed; the old birds must have spread the news there is good eating at your house :)

    betty

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  12. Chilly - but so very beautiful.
    We have renamed some of our most regular avian visitors 'Tubby and Chubby'. And the seed consumed continues to increase.

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  13. So good of you to put out bird feed during the cold snap. When it gets quite cold here I do that too but mostly we have lots of food for the birds to help themselves (gardens, etc.).

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  14. Big brrrr! Hope our warm weather moves east and takes the sting out of that arctic weather on your side of the country.

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  15. brrr brrrr brrrr. we have a week of cold weather ahead...30s - 40s. you'd probably consider it temperate but it's stay in cold to me.

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  16. Brr, that's cold and I thought it was bad here, well for us it is--shouldn't be 37ยบ as a high in Coastal Georgia. We had to stock up on birdseed too, the squirrels keep devouring it. Stay warm.

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  17. It's cold here too, in Atlantic Canada - -4F with windchill going to -20F. Somehow I am minding the cold worse this year. I think my internal heater is broken :)

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    1. I think my thermostat quit working winter before last.

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  18. It's hard for me to imagine that level of cold. Even putting my face almost into my freezer probably isn't that cold.
    And you people go out in it every day all winter. Brrr. But I'm glad you do, to feed the birds.

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  19. Your photos show how cold it is over there. Brrrr.

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  20. Dear Joanne, I had to do a bit of math - and then I shivered: -20° Celsius ... brrrr... The birds will thank you for feeding them with a lovely song in spring.

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  21. Hello Joanne,

    These are chilly images indeed. Of course,it all looks rather wonderful from the comfort of a warm house but this extreme cold weather can take its toll on humans and wildlife alike. How thoughtful of you to keep the bird feeders well stocked and how grateful the Woodpecker looks to be. Delightful!

    Thank you for the kind messages which you have left for us. We wish you and your family every happiness in 2015.

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  22. I can almost feel the chill through my imagination as I was raised in Michigan and such brutal days were not rare. I think I would spend my whole winter inside if I now lived in Michigan. Be so careful around that tough weather as I am sure you have heard of frostbite. I knew a woman when I lived in Michigan that I hired to take photos (before I became a photographer). She got frostbite with two of her fingers from the severe cold. but being you have lived most of your life in Ohio you are probably a pro at handling the cold temps. -- barbara

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  23. Hey free frosted glass - don't you normally have to pay extra?

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  24. I was going to be so peeved if they closed the schools here this week (all around us, schools did close); thank heavens the school officials recalled Days of Yore when we all were able to get to school in ANY temperature.

    Barefoot. Walking backwards.

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  25. What a gorgeous splash of color that woodpecker gives.

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  26. It's interesting that they cancel school when it's that cold. They'd never do that here; they just cancel for snowstorms. They would cancel outdoor recess, though. I guess we're all in the same cold snap right now!!

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