Made some room in the freezers & warmed the house

January was a good month to clean out the freezers and keep the house warm by canning and smoking. Stats: * Smoked 9 Red Salmon (two different recipes) * Canned 38 half pints of Smoked Salmon (from above) * Canned 11 pints and 24 half pints of Red Salmon * Made 20 pints of Strawberry Jam (from berries Dad picked) * Canned 6 pints of Strawberry/Rhubarb Compote * Made 1 Peach Pie for Moms birthday (sorry no picture)

Firewood is Cut

After getting a late start this fall, persistence finally paid off today as I finished putting up 10 Face Cords of oak firewood and not to soon as we do have a little snow on the ground and sub-zero temperatures forecast. I have been trying to cut two years out, so this wood is for the 2019-2020 season.

Screech Owl

Spotted this Screech Owl on a 4x4 post outside the back door around 10:00 p.m. 12/04/2017.

Here are some recent photos:
lilies blooming in the woods. It is a treat to find them in the middle of the brambles and weeds.

 This mix of colors are what I think I remember in the flower bed east of the garage. At least there are different ones in the woods. So maybe I was wrong.

 OK - no lilies in with the bell flowers - they are just a treat by them selves.

 Here is my tomato plant - it is not what I wanted, tomatoes are not orange and they are bigger. But they are still delicious and just starting to ripen (I've picked two so far.)

 Healthy crop of blackberries coming on.

I picked these blackberries, but they weren't very sweet. Guess I should wait a few days.

Berries and rain

the black raspberries are starting already! must be the excess rain we have been getting. Today we got another inch....in a few hours. Now it is very foggy out - humid. But, the boys and I still took our walk this evening.
I have picked a handfull of berries again tonight. I don't think I'll be able to keep up with them. Anyone wanting to help pick them? Come on up.

Mowed the trails Saturday - here's how they look

The boys and I walk the trails two or three times a day. They look especially pretty after I mowed them.

Animal Antics

No photos with these observances.
Today, the black squirrel tried to get at the suspended birdfeeders. He got held up at the platters, and wrapped himself around the pvc pipe, then hit the ground. He tried this a couple times, then gave up.
I'll have to take a photo of our suspended bird feeders to post later.

Then, out the front window, I had put out the morning supply of peanuts and sunflower seeds for the squirrels.

The grey squirrel was being a piggy, and the pine squirrel jumped him - fur flew, and the little pine squirrel won that round. The grey limped away, and waited until the pine squirrel finished. The grey probably snacked off the deck & ground, because a lot of seed went flying along with the fur. Animals seem to be getting grumpy!
I wasn't prepared to video any of this. Darn.