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| My M! |
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Oh, dear... I just discovered that I did not post this! That is not good at all! So, without further ado, may I present Mason!
A bit of a catch up! It is only February 9th and it has already been a very busy month! On the very first day of the month, I became grandma for the 10th time - a sweet little boy! He is my youngest's first and he is beautiful!
I spent a few days traveling to the hospital, staying for hours, returning home, and coming back the next day for more! He was able to go home on Monday and the forecasts began predicting SNOW on top of the chilly air we already had! I know, most of this country has had more than its fair share this winter, but it has been quite spring-like here in Portland.
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| A ferret looking for its home |
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On the fifth, the temps dropped - windchill of minus 1 F at night. The winds howled, steady at 10-15 mph, with frequent gusts up to 45 m.p.h. We also had a visitor... we didn't know what it was and by the time we discovered that it was a ferret, it was gone. It was quite friendly, but it really startled me. Poor thing. It was just looking for a handout and I ran! Good thing it has a very thick winter coat!
The next day, the snow started and with the wind still howling, the flakes were tiny and dry. More blew down the street than stayed in the yard. Someone must have a huge pile of snow.
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| Icy cold Anna's Humminbird |
The Anna hummingbirds have been really cold - puffed up like a ball. Why they don't migrate is a good question, if you ask me. I have noticed that whenever there is icy weather, the female disappears. The male spent time in our porch, getting out of the wind by sitting on an empty bird feeder part of the time. Mr. R has been rotating the hummers' feeder to thaw every few hours. We discovered that also brought in ants who love the feeder, too. Those stinking ants are a favorite treat of hummers and chickadees but getting the frozen feeder covered and sealed to prevent them from taking over the house even more was very important.
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| Coming home from my walk... |
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We got several inches of snow - not the norm for Portland - the most we've had since 1993. Yesterday, I walked around the block and on a side trip - about a mile altogether. This is almost home - the middle set of Douglas Fir on the left is ours.
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| Ice covered snow - Golden Desert Ash on the right |
White, winter wonderland - and not one human footprint to be found. It has been a long time since kids lived here! Our son brought his kids over to sled on our slope a couple of years ago - not much snow but it was fun! This year, it wasn't easy to get around.
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| Ice on the Japanese Cherry... |
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As it usually does here in Portland when we have a lot of cold air, last night we got freezing rain. It was just starting when I was almost home and got serious in a couple of hours. It is an amazing sight to see everything coated with a coat of ice. If you don't have to go anyplace and your power doesn't go out, it is beautiful!
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| Shooting through binoculars |
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Finally, my camera since 2006, a Canon IS-3S, seems to have finally given out. I have been forcing it to keep going by using very fresh batteries, but today, it has refused to start. The photo of the iced branches was taken with it today. It has 12x zoom - a 400mm lens equivalent - and has been delightful. It also has a flip-out screen on back, making it possible to take selfies with my grands for a long time!
For now, I have to compensate with the little Pentax we have. It is compact but only has 3x optical zoom, making it difficult to get the long shots. Today, I tried putting the lens into the eye-piece of my little binoculars - and it wasn't too bad... not great, but it is interesting. The dried up hydrangea flowers are the same as on the right side of the Golden Desert Ash in the photo up the page a couple of shots.. It definitely had a vignetting effect. I put it on super-macro in order for it to focus on the lens. Very tedious trying to find a spot, but it is worth a shot!
