Brrr, It's Cold!

15 degrees F is just plain too cold, especially if you live in a travel trailer.  Even with three fleece blankets, a quilt and four cats piled on me last night, and the electric oil-type heater on, I could feel the cold.  If it hadn't been for the fleece curtains I made last summer for the window by my bed, I'm sure we'd all have felt like popsicles this morning.  Making curtains out of blanket fleece was the best idea I had for 2010!

At 9:30 this morning, Goosey knocked on my door with her beak, telling me she wanted food and water.  The snow is still covering the grassy areas, so she's been eating bread and sneaking cat food the last few days (she's a picky goose and refuses to eat feed grain).  I could put more bread out for her, but there was nothing I could do about the water - it was still only 24 degrees out.  I did see her pecking at the snow, so she isn't totally without drinking water.  She just doesn't have any for bathing and playing in.  Although it warmed up to 35 today, the ice and snow have not melted.  It's supposed to get warm enough to rain tomorrow, so maybe Goosey will finally get some water.

Snow Day!

Today was a Snow Day - a day when kids stay home from school and places that have the option of closing do so.  The weather forecasters were predicting anything from a few inches to two feet of snow last night.  We got one inch!  There's a good chance that there'll be no school tomorrow either.  The temperature is supposed to drop to 20 degrees F tonight, turning all that slushy stuff to a sheet of ice.  I won't be going anywhere until it melts.

When my friend J was here yesterday, a little bird flew into my shed window.  It was temporarily stunned enough that J snapped a photo.

This was an unknown species to either of us, so I went online to see if I could solve this mystery.  I got lucky!  I found a site called identify.whatbird.com and even at the slow speed of 28.8 bps it only took ten minutes to learn that this little bird is a Golden-crested Kinglet.  I wish you could see the irridescent olive colorings in his wings.  I've always thought of olive as a drab color, but it's rather jewel-like on this tiny bird.

Mother Goosey?

The weather turned wet and cold again a few days ago, so I've been staying indoors hugging the heater - well, I would if I could!  But today was shopping day so I had to venture outdoors.  The sun had actually made an appearance before I returned home, so I poked around outside to check on Goosey's eggs.  Goosey has been a busy lady: there are now 12 eggs in the nest that I rarely see her sitting on (I can see it from my office window).  Either she hasn't got much in the mothering instincts department or she knows that sitting on those eggs is a complete waste of time.

Monday is garbage pick up day.  The eggs will mysteriously disappear this weekend.  I won't feel so bad knowing that Goosey doesn't seem to be much of a mother goose.  Of course, if I had to sit on eggs in 30-degree weather with snow and rain falling on me, I would be shirking my duty, too.  I wonder why Goosey chose to lay eggs out in the open instead of in a sheltered spot under cover?  There are plenty of sheltered spots around here to choose from, including the one that was especially built for Goosey.

UPDATE:  Goosey caught us in the act of removing her eggs.  Although she gave us quite a scolding, she didn't attack anyone.  Half an hour later, she seemed to have either forgiven us or forgotten the incident.