From the sewing room window....

24 hours later......

It only got to around 40° yesterday, but the sun's powerful rays melted that white stuff very quickly.

The birds were enjoying bathing in the puddles left on the driveway:

This guy was busy looking for something to eat:

It's a flicker. I kept waiting for him to turn his head the right way as I was snapping pics, but then Grandpa drove in and scared him away. You can see his bright red slash, though:

We're looking forward to mid-upper 60's by Saturday and even well into next week. It seems a miracle after Wednesday!

But rather than snow and its melting, let's think of the miracle that we celebrate on Sunday - the resurrection of Jesus! I hope you all have a happy and blessed Easter!

A study in contrasts

Soooo.... it's April, right? April 19th, in fact? Someone please assure me that it is! Last year at this time, corn planting was well under way. Contrast #1: This morning it looks like this (6+" of new 'stuff'):

Contrast #2: I took this photo yesterday at my sewing room window... just because I thought it made a nice contrast. Several, in fact... the drippy, rainy-looking window, yet the snow in the background (that was the actual depth of the drift at the window... and it got bigger), and the silhouette of the summery flowers. What a mixture!

Last week I showed you how the poor birds were struggling to find food. Here are a couple more pics I took later of different kinds of birds also searching for food. A blackbird...

... and a flicker:

Contrast #3: A much BIGGER bird, also searching for food. It's a pretty unusual sight to see turkeys around here while there's still snow on the ground. There were five others with this big ol' tom.

Okay, enough of the "winter" scenery (I've more than had enough, believe me!). This next photo is definitely a contrast from that. But it's a contrast in itself, because if you remember, the first flower stalk on this amaryllis had a problem. This is the second stalk, and there's not a blemish on it! Hurray! Yep, Contrast #4:

Contrast #5: The above photo's colors are accurate. The photo below is an example of what can happen if you don't have the proper white balance setting on your camera. Not such great colors:

There you have it. Hope you enjoyed our little "study". ;)

Hard water

Yikes! What is this creature I found IN the birdbath this morning?!

Oh, it's only Cuddles!

But IN the birdbath?! Cats don't like to be IN water!

She wasn't. She was ON it. Trying to get a drink. Yep, frozen nearly solid. Brrrrrr!!!

There was no damage in the garden, though. I'm sure wishing I hadn't picked all those green peppers yesterday in anticipation of the frost! Wish I could glue 'em back on the plants! Dealing with peppers was not exactly in my plans for today.

Speaking of the birdbath, here's a first... I saw a flicker getting a drink yesterday.

All those spots must mean it's a young one? Note the red on the back of its neck. Do not note the grunginess of the birdbath.

View from the sewing room window

LOOK! The snowbank is gone! ENTIRELY gone!! Much better view, if you ask me! The grass is even getting green. WOOHOO!

This robin was good enough to pose for me. I was hoping to catch him pulling up a big, fat worm, but it was not to be. (Maybe for the best, Cindy?) Probably too cold for the poor worms today, at only 36°. :(

Then along came this flicker. I had a terrible time getting a good shot of him... he just kept hopping all over the place (probably trying to stay warm ;) ). But this one turned out pretty good:

Later, from the living room windows, I saw this robin. Such a PALE breast! Especially compared to the other one.

The snow is not all melted yet. There's still some in the evergreen trees. It's been melting pretty fast (especially with the 73° we had on Tuesday). But we could get some new stuff Friday night. Yuck. At least it's a little easier to accept at this time of year, because IT CAN'T LAST LONG!