Snow Day!

Today is my first Snow Day! Not only are all of the schools closed, most businesses are too. My boss called this morning to let me know the office would be closed. So what have I done all day? I watched the birds outside my window. Today was a special day because there were 3 new types of birds at my feeder. A Tufted Titmouse (which flew away when I got my camera), a bird I'm having problems identifying and finally...Cardinals! I have been impatiently waiting for Cardinals to find my bird feeder and then, in the middle of a snow storm, they appeared. I have 2 pairs that have been eating at my feeder today. When I saw them I was so excited I didn't want to get my camera because I was afraid I'd scare them away. Derrick said it was crazy not to try to photograph them and he was right (as usual, but don't tell him that). This picture is through my bedroom window.

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So This is What Cold Feels Like

This is an actual temperature reading from The Weather Channel on my phone. I've learned that wind chill really makes a difference, even when it's -12 degrees outside.

When I lived in California I always asked people, "What does below 20 feel like?" No matter what they said to me I just didn't really understand. Well now I understand and I'm going to try my best to explain it to you.

Imagine what it feels like when it's late at night and you walk from inside somewhere to your car and the wind cuts through your clothes. When you get inside your car you clench up and shiver a little bit and wait for the car to warm up so you can turn the heater on. Your nose, fingers and thighs are cold. Can you think of a time when you felt that cold? Now think of what the cold air feels like on your face when you open the freezer and how your fingers feel when you reach inside and grab some ice cream.

Cold weather (at least to me from a Ohioan standpoint) kinda feels like a combo of those two sensations. After a certain point, the only difference is how long it takes before your hands go numb. For example, the other day at work it was around 12 degrees. I was outside shoveling a path to our office door when my ear started to feel like something was stabbing it. I thought one of my bobby-pins fell out of my hair and was poking me so I went inside to fix it. My bobby-pins were exactly where I put them that morning. The stabbing feeling was my ear freezing. That happened in about 5-10 minutes. Another day, I took my dog outside at it was around 5 degrees. My fingers went numb in 30 seconds.

The average temperature of a household freezer is 0 degrees or slightly below. (Thanks Google for your access to random statistics). I've experience -34. One thing I've also learned is cold weather is all relative. When living in CA I thought 65 was cold and anything in the 50's was freezing. Now that I live in Ohio in the middle of winter, if the temperature rose to 50 today I would go outside without a sweater on. However, if it was August in Ohio and the temperature all of a sudden dropped to 50 I would wear my winter coat.

I'm not sure if my blood had actually thickened (I could Google it), but to me it seems if you just keep an open mind and go with the flow (and pray your heater works) the cold isn't so bad after all.

But that doesn't mean I'm not looking forward to Spring :)

More Birds

I'm really enjoying trying to identify the different birds I photograph. The people down the street from me have tons of bird feeders and their apartment faces the woods. When I walked the dogs in the morning last weekend I couldn't believe how many different birds I saw! I ran back to my apartment and grabbed my camera. It was freezing but I captured some cool pictures :)

Female Northern Cardinal

House Sparrows
Downy Woodpecker

Blue Jay
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Winter Birds

I've developed a new hobby for the winter since it's too cold to go outside for long periods of time, bird watching. I have a bird feeder outside my window and now that it's freezing cold outside and everything is covered in snow, the birds have decided to grace me with their presence. I've been using different websites to identify the birds in my apartment complex. This morning I started using www.whatbird.wbu.com which is really helpful. Here's a couple birds from this morning.

Dark-Eyed Junco

Black-Capped Chickadee

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I Love Snow!

Happy New Year! It's been snowing for over 24 hours and now we have about 1 1/2 feet of snow. I love it! Derrick, who is totally awesome, held the rope attached to my toboggan and ran down the street with it so I could go sledding. Then, he compacted this 5 foot pile of snow and held my toboggan on it while I climbed up and sat on it. Once I was ready, he let go and I went sliding down the hill and down the street. It was so much fun! I can't wait for tomorrow because I have the day off so I can play all day. A picture is worth 1,000 words so here's some from today :)

My Morning Commute (I wasn't driving)

The MetroParks
The river by the marina and a picnic table.



Target Parking Lot


Our Apartment Complex
The bushes look like gumdrops!


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My Bird Feeder is Not in Vain!

Finally! I've had my bird feeder up since October and had no luck attracting birds to it. I even upgraded the seed after doing some research. Yesterday, I checked the feeder and noticed some of the seeds were gone. I wasn't sure if it was because birds were actually eating them or if the wind just blew some away. Well, this morning I was sitting at the window when I noticed a cute, fluffed up bird sitting on the air conditioning unit. I went to grab my camera but once I was all set to take his picture he flew away. I was totally bummed but then I noticed where he flew to. My bird feeder! He ate a bunch of seeds while I tried to take his photo by climbing between our Christmas tree and the window. Of course, he ate on the side where I couldn't get a good view of him but at least I know he was there and maybe he'll bring friends with him the next time he visits. I identified him as a male Dark-eyed Junco. Since I couldn't get a decent picture of him, here's a link to a collection of photos another woman in Northeast Ohio has of all the birds on her farm. It's pretty cool to see the variety. Northeast Ohio Birds

What do Pyros do for fun in the Winter?

Melt things. I ended up with this candle from a White Elephant gift exchange (which was totally fun) and instead of just throwing it away, I decided to use if for entertainment. Did I mention my dad is a Firefighter? It's genetic.

Icicles Everywhere!

Well I didn't get to go to the park to take pictures of how awesome everything looks covered in ice, but I do have this photo of our Crabapple tree. We had an ice storm the other night and when I woke up in the morning everything was covered in a layer of ice. The trees along the highway look amazing! We had 2 inches of solid ice. It's like an ice skating rink the parking lot at my work. What's kind of entertaining is when you walk everything goes, crunch, crunch, crunch. Unless you step on the more slippery patches where the ice is compacted down. I try to avoid those.

Artic Air = Very Cold!

Guess what today's windchill is supposed to get down to . . . -15 degrees! Yes, that's NEGATIVE 15 degrees. There's actually a warning that if you're going to go outside have all exposed skin covered to prevent frostbite. When I took Mya out this morning the wind chill was -2. It was so cold my mind didn't really register how cold it was. What's kind of funny, well to me not to most people, is when you walk outside when it's snowing and windy you get plastered with snow like you were rolling around in it. I also shovel and scrape ice off of the driveway for fun so maybe my idea of fun isn't exactly normal. Here's a blurry picture of me the last time we went to the outdoor mall (like a small Victoria Gardens) and it was windy and snowing.

Winter vs Spring

I stopped at Berea Falls today which I posted about in the Spring. I'll have to photograph it again in Summer and Fall so you can see all four Seasons. Isn't it amazing how different it looks? Comparing Spring with Winter makes the Winter photo look like it's black and white.