My Journey in 2012 – January

1/8/2012

The first week of the new year has come and gone. The weather this week was very strange, though. Mid week, we had a frigged 1 degree and yesterday we had a beautiful 47.

I did have one highlight this week. On Friday, 1/6, traveling through Eiresville, NY, I had the exciting pleasure to see a Bald Eagle circling over head. This is my third sighting of the majestic bird since living here is rural upstate NY.

1/16/12

Well winter is definitely here in Central rural New York. With temperatures to match. We have a full covering of snow on the ground for days and the temperatures for the past few days have been from the single digits to below zero. This morning, upon awaking at the usual 5:30 am, I awoke to -5 degrees and no water. The line freezes here when we have below zero for several days.
I did happen to see one of our resident rabbits yesterday. I haven’t seen any rabbits for a while, maybe a month. I have been seeing their prints in the snow, so I do know that they do come out in such cold. Blue Jays have been around snatching corn out of the ducks’ feed dishes. And of course the little finches do come in to grab some corn too.

1/21/12

Now with snow covering the ground, and it will remain that way until Spring decides to show up, I love to see the animal prints in it each morning when I go out to do my chores. The resident rabbits make their marks all over the yard. They are searching for any bits of corn that the geese and ducks left. It is so cute to see how they just travel all over the back yard. No direction, just helter skelter everywhere!

What is also fun to see are the bird prints in the snow. There are many different sizes. From the giant feet of my very large geese to the medium prints of our ducks right down to Bluejay and Finch prints. When I pour out the cracked corn in the feeding pans the wild birds, Jays, Cardinals, Finches, Chickadees seem to come from no where and join in on the feast. Again leaving their marks in the snow for me to see …..

Sometimes, in the morning, I find deer prints in the fresh snow in the yard. They travel down the small hill in our yard in search of left over corn. As the day goes on, and I let Isabel out, the deer prints are lost among hers. Deer and goat prints are the same.

There are prints that disturb me when I see them the first thing on a cold winter morning. That is cat prints. I feel so badly for any cat who has to endure the nightly winter weather of Central Upstate NY. Is that animal okay? Does it have food and shelter?