Last of the ice ...snow is on the way!!

With only a little bit of luck, this will be the last of the ice photos that I will post for a while. Tomorrow snow is on the way, perhaps as much as 10 inches! Assuming for once that the forecast is right, I’ll finally be able to do a bit of skiing, perhaps some snowshoeing. I will be having fun in the snow! Finally!

But that’s tomorrow, and today I’m still dealing with the ice. My conifer trees are as stiff as a board. I touched one last evening and it literally broke apart in my hands. So, I’m trying not to touch anything as I go in and out of the cabin. Funny, but I never thought of living in the forest as like walking through a china shop before.

I think the lane past the cabin is now free enough of ice that I could get the car up the hill, but because the trees are so brittle and fragile, I’m still walking. Perhaps things will melt more today before the snow arrives tomorrow. I hope so. I suspect that 10 inches of snow atop trees already laden with ice would not be a good thing, either for the trees or for my electricity.

The recent weather is taking a toll on my budget. The birds that come to my feeders are eating a lot of food. They can’t do much, if any, foraging with everything so encased in ice. So they come to my feeders and spend the day. I am going through about 25 lbs of seed every 8-9 days. I use a 20 lb. bag with added sunflower, safflower and niger seeds. Then I add in some mealy worms. Plus, there’s suet.

The other day I saw 3 different woodpeckers—downy, hairy and red-bellied—plus a nuthatch within a few feet of each other. If I accidentally let a feeder go empty, the woodpeckers are pounding on the cabin. To me it’s as though they are telling me it’s time to fill their feeders. I know that’s likely not the case, but that’s sure how it seems.