We got some about an inch of unexpected snow yesterday. Some pictures from this morning.
Chickens in the veggie garden with snow:
Beehives in the snow:
Snow sliding off the greenhouse:
Brown gazebo with snow:
The pond isn’t frozen:
Snow & Ice
Cat update for week ending February 16
We start this Caturday with some lingering snow, and a cat peeking out of the shelter:
The cats have been somewhat absent during the day this week, though did show up for food, and occasionally spent a night in the shelter. Here are all five cats in there:
Birds in the snow:
A bird on the heated water dish:
I set up the old automatic feeder in the back of the shop, so I can eventually control the amount of food Pansy eats, since she’s somewhat overweight. Initially I had both feeders there, so Pepper still ate back there. A few days later, I moved the manual feeder and a new water dispenser to the front of the shop, where Pepper lives. So this is probably the last time we’ll see Pepper in the back:
I’ve got some new cameras for the chickens and ducks, so will move the old camera from the old chicken coop to the front of the shop, to watch Pepper’s food. Probably more on that next week.
Here’s Pansy, eating from the auto-feeder. Currently it is dispensing too much food, but I’ll slowly reduce the quantity to match the level she eats, then a little less over time:
Back outside, here’s a cat drinking from the heated water dish, while another eats their dinner. This is the last of the snow, too:
A cat having a good stretch against a tree:
Dinner queue. I don’t usually show pictures from this time of night, since the contrast between the darkening outside and the lighted feeder area doesn’t work that well in pictures, but hey, something different:
The theory with the feeder light was that a bright light would deter the possums and raccoons, since they can’t see in that brightness… but they just feel around for the food, so that didn’t work. I suppose I could turn the light off, but I haven’t; it might help a little, perhaps, and makes it easier to see things via the camera in there.
Two cats on the deck after dark:
A cat eating, when a raccoon turns up outside. The cat kept eating, then quickly evacuated when the raccoon got closer (there was no food left):
I think this is the first time I’ve seen a rabbit on the camera:
Three cats waiting for breakfast:
The breakfast rush:
Four cats:
Finally, some disappointed alien visitors. A small possum:
An orange cat:
A bigger possum:
A raccoon:
Chickens in the snow
The snow is melting, helped by the rain. It was fun while it lasted, but I’m ready for it to go.
Our chickens would prefer no snow too; they don’t like walking in it.
Here are a bunch of photos of the chickens in the snow, from yesterday and today:
Cat update for week ending February 9
It’s a snowy Caturday!
We got a trace of snow last Sunday. The area around the cat house is somewhat sheltered by trees:
Looking across the small pond to the cat house, with a dusting of snow:
Lots of cat footprints in the snow on the path to the cat house:
Another angle of the cat house through snow-covered branches:
A view from the driveway through the fountain garden, with the cat house visible through the trees in the middle:
Some snowflakes on a cat in the feeder:
More snow overnight:
A bird making poor life choices, snacking in the cat feeder; fortunately for it, nobody was home at the time (I do have bird feeders too):
Porcini looking from feeder:
Pommie with her tongue out, drinking from the heated water dish, about the only non-frozen water available:
Cat tracks in the snow across the driveway:
The cat house with lots of cat footprints out front:
The side of the cat house, through snowy trees:
A cat on the front path, watching me:
Just for fun, I made a couple of very rough mini-snowmen by the cat house. Here a cat is poking at one:
A rare sighting of a cat-head snowman:
Three cats:
Five cats toasty inside the heated shelter overnight. That makes me happy:
We had more snow overnight:
Likely more snow on the way over the next few days, so there will probably be more snowy cat photos next week. Stay warm out there!
Sunny snow
We haven’t had any more snow for a couple of days, but it’s been below freezing most of the time, so what’s here isn’t significantly melting. The forecast calls for more snow this weekend, so the current stuff will solidify into a layer of ice, with fresh snow on top.
Here are a few more snowy pictures, from yesterday and today.
Gobs of snow on a dogwood tree:
Snow on the beehives, with icicles hanging off the roof. The snow is melting above the brown one in the foreground, which is a good sign of warm bees inside. It isn’t melting as much on the other hive, which may mean they aren’t doing so well, or the roof might just be a better insulator:
Looking up at the ceiling of the berry cage. It’s holding up nicely so far, though I worry about its capacity to cope with lots more snow. But I’m not going to try cleaning it off; I want to see what it can handle, and will repair later if needed:
A close-up:
Some interesting graupel patterns on the frozen pond:
The pond and snow-covered trees beyond:
Me shoveling the snow from the driveway, so Jenn could go out (the car is parked inside the shop, for now, though she’ll start parking it in the breezeway next to the shop, so I can work on the duck house in there):
Snow shovel:
Icebergs sliding off the hoop house:
Morning sun through the trees:
Sparkly snow:
Frozen garden ornament, with the brown gazebo in the background:
Interesting morning light, with sparkly snow, and snow-covered trees beyond the field:
Frozen small pond:
Another snow day, and no power
We got a few more inches of snow overnight. This morning we lost power… still off a couple of hours later as I write this, though predicted to be back on soon. Hopefully. We have UPSes powering our internet, but no water, since we’re on a well. One day we want to get a whole-house generator, or Tesla Powerwall, but those are expensive. We do have a portable generator, but that doesn’t help with the water, and isn’t needed unless the power stays off for a long time.
Anyway, this morning Jenn and Rory joined me on the rounds, and I took a few more snowy pics.
This is the tree by the chicken run. The branches are usually high enough to walk under, not touching the ground:
The pond is frozen today; unsurprising with the temperature below freezing:
The brown gazebo and chicken coop:
Jenn taking a picture of the snow by the pond arbor:
Rory:
A view of the frozen pond from the pond deck:
Rory enjoyed some off-leash scampering in the field; she loves to run in the snow:
The apple orchard in the field, with the white gazebo in the background:
Rory sniffing deer tracks by the bird feeders:
First snow of 2019
Although much of the country has had lots of snow this winter, we haven’t had any… until now. Yesterday morning we had a brief dusting of snow, then overnight we got about three inches, with a forecast of more throughout the day.
Naturally, I took a bunch of photos while on my morning rounds.
Here’s the brown gazebo and trees covered in snow:
The pond wasn’t frozen, yet anyway:
The flowerbeds, with the pond deck on the left, the brown gazebo in the distance, and the veggie garden on the right:
The chicken coop:
As usual, the bird netting on the roof of the chicken run collapsed under the weight of the snow. I plan to replace that with welded wire, like the berry cage, but was hoping to defer it; now I guess I need to either repair the netting, or do the wire after all:
The welded wire on the berry cage held up just fine:
The beehives:
The cat house, somewhat sheltered by the trees:
A bit more snow
So much for spring; we got about an inch of snow overnight.
The feral cats are used to it by now:
The bees probably aren’t too thrilled, but have been pretty active recently, working on restoring their supplies, so will probably stay bundled up for now:
The chicken coop:
The white gazebo; the pond is still liquid: it hasn’t been cold enough to freeze:
The brown gazebo and coop:
One year of blogging
It seems like I’ve been writing this blog for years, but it’s actually only been one year; my first post was one year ago today.
Here’s a picture from a similar (but not quite the same) angle as the blog header image… but with melting snow instead of a rainbow:
More snow
Yesterday it snowed pretty much all day, though didn’t start sticking until evening.
Firstly, here are some pictures of the cat shelter from the last couple of days:
Cozy inside:
A nice picture of Portabella emerging from the shelter:
On to today; some interesting light early:
Rory following a cat (or bunny) path:
The pond is frozen again (it did mostly defrost yesterday):
Reverse view from the pond deck:
That interesting light again over the apple trees:
A cat track in the snow:
The cat shelter; the camera was buried again, and the deck steps look more like a ramp:
The fountain garden (looking from the back deck):
I measured about 7″ of new snow, on top of 2″ remaining from the previous snowfall a couple of days ago:
A bunch of icicles off the roof:
