My very favorite part of the front yard is seeing the occasional fox or deer, but also the regular squirrels and rabbits who visit.  Yes, I like taking photos of my flowers during the summer but so enjoy seeing other living creatures munch on the clover.

I haven’t seen a hawk yet like Benjamin over at The Deep Middle,

In the dead of winter I get the fullest, bare-bone understanding of where I am, and how I and my garden and little 1/4 acre homestead are connected to the larger world. A hawk passes over my yard in a second. In one minute how much more has it experienced than me? Whose perspective is deeper and richer? Whose life would suffer more for the lack of the other? The answer to that last question should be obvious.

He says it so much more beautifully than me.

I find the notion that a gardener’s shovel is to an artist’s brush so whimsical! I’ve always dreamed of a lovely walkway surrounded by trees, flowers, and bird feeders that leads to a gazebo sitting next to a weeping willow tree and pond.

The harsh reality is that I have a couple of rose bushes that are doing well, my azaleas are very pretty, but I can’t keep the ants off the Hydrangea long enough for a pretty bloom.  My river rock ground cover has itself been covered… by a creeping, gross vine. And my dreams of a water barrel have never come to fruition.

So when I read such beautiful words about gardening, I get a tad jealous,

A gardener’s shovel is to an artist’s brush. A gardener’s choice of colorful flowers, shrubs and trees is to an artist’s collection of paints, pencils and oils. An artist’s signature is to a gardener’s…hmmm?

The choice of garden decor that is placed throughout the landscape is undoubtedly the signature of a gardener. What does that mean? Simply, a gardener that chooses a sailboat weathervane over a rooster weathervane is more likely to be a water loving individual rather than a country/farm loving individual. It’s how they choose to express themselves in the garden.

My garden decor are some broken seashells that my daughters put down and and a frog statue that the previous owner left behind.  I think one of it’s legs has broken off.

The first time I saw the watering bulbs on tv, I was smitten.  I fell head over heels in love with everything about them - they were pretty AND they watered plants in a timely manner.  I’m not too bad with plants.  In fact I have one that is about 30 years old that I’ve managed to keep alive with regular water and an occasional dose of plant food.

Sadly my husband has been resistent in buying me one.  It’s one of those things I’d never buy myself, so I keep hinting around.  To no avail.  I think I’m going to have to turn up the heat, though, because a friend of mine just told me how wonderful her watering bulbs are.   PLUS, the Gardening Resources web site even suggests them kind of,

All indoor plants will need water and a watering device is essential. There is the simple watering can to something even more elaborate depending on what you need. You can choose from the expensive glass bulbs to stick into the soil of the house plants to something simple like adding a plastic water bottle to a stake inside the pot or container.

Hellooo husband.  I want them!!

My parents always have a cage of suet that hangs in the tree outside their window.  We see all kinds of wood peckers - from downy to red breasted to every kind in between - chowing down on the suet feeder.  It also attracts nuthatches and tufted titmouse.  When my Dad has sunflower seeds out, however, we’ll see tons of gold and purple finches and cardinals.  He’s backed away from using a lot of sunflower seeds, though, because the squirrels hit it pretty hard, too, and he has no desire to feed squirrels.

I think watching the various birds through the years has given me a real love of these winged creatures.  That’s why when I went outside today to take some photos of the “dusting” of snow we received, I found I took mostly bird pictures.

Okay, so I’m not the best wildlife photographer you can find, but I like the picture!  If you’re interested in setting up a feeder to help wild birds during the winter months, here’s a link that you might find helpful.

From the Fail Blog.

Ha…

Jenna so eloquently describes her Cold Antler Farm in Vermont that it almost makes me want to move there.  But given our own local temperatures (low tomorrow is going to be 9 degrees), I think Vermont can only tempt me right now during the summer months.  Yet her words remain beautiful,

They’d already eaten their morning meal so I went into the garage for some fresh straw instead. I carried it out to them and their eyes got wide and ears perked up. They always think straw might be hay, and thought I was carrying them a giant dinner. They followed me back towards the shed. A small parade of shepherd, a black lamb, an angry ewe, and an old softy. I lined the sheep shed with straw while Joseph and Sal joined me inside it. Instead of leaving them—I plopped down in the corner, sitting with my back to the wood and my legs stretched out into the straw. The shed was wonderful. It was windproof, clean, and dry. I sat on the new straw and watched the snow falling outside just like I imagine my flock does.

Consider Jenna’s site now bookmarked as one of my favorites!  You should bookmark her too!

So here it is… I don’t like to cook much.  Fortunately my mother-in-law used to cook for several restaurants and she lives with me.  She still practices her profession, so it’s not necessary for me to write out menus and follow-through.

I am the person, however, who does all the outdoor grilling during the summer.  Don’t tell my mother-in-law, but apparently you can grill during the winter months too.  From Backyard Fire Pits,

Since its winter, there’s the likelihood that you won’t want to spend a lot of time outdoors cooking meat so it would make sense to grill steaks or pork chops because they cook faster than something large. Place a little more charcoal on the grill than you would use in the spring or summer.

The outside temperature does make a difference in the length of time it takes to cook your meat. Watch your rib eyes or center cut pork chops carefully so that they’re cooked to your specifications when you take them off the grill. Cook the meat a little longer.

Okey dokey. Dont’ tell my mother-in-law!

Photo by Rochelle et al via Flickr Creative Commons.