February 14, 2010



as i was walking through the house, i heard the sounds of birds, like you hear in the spring when you wake up. i looked outside and thought we were being taken over by grackles like the parking lots of the shopping centers. i hate those grackle get-togethers. they happen during their mating season and they congregate in all the live oaks that are planted around commercial centers. the parking lots are polka dotted with their poop! not only that, you can’t park your car there without it being bombarded with poop.


so, i wasn’t happy when i first looked outside. then, i looked a little closer and we were overwhelmed with robins instead. they were so cute with their fat red bellies!  according to my field guide, the robin song is ‘cheerily cheer-up cheerio’. how can you not be happy with sound like that in your front yard. it beats the awful screeching call of a grackle. my same field guide describes it as a sound like ripping cloth or cracking twigs, but it is much more annoying.


it was impossible to take a good picture with my little point and shoot, but i took some anyway.


they left about an hour later. again, unlike those hateful grackles that stay for months (probably only one month, but it feels like forever). did i mention how much i hate grackles!?

February 13, 2010



today, the sun came out and it is so nice outside. yesterday and the day before, the snow made the outside so very very quiet. i almost wanted to whisper when i went outside. today, with the sun, the snow has become very noisy. it’s pouring down the water spouts and forming brooks and streams in the street, yard, and gutter. it sounds merry. kinda’ like the phrase from ‘the sound of music’ - (my heart wants) to laugh like a brook when it trips and falls over stones on its way.



for some reason - michelle thinks it is because she must be part maine coon - nikki could not get enough of the snow, yesterday. everytime, i opened the door, she was there to wander out and sniff. the snow did smell really really good. so, i scooped some up for her.



i took these photos of the house because after showing my post to scott, he’s, like, “why didn’t you take photos of the house?” and, i’m, like, “because i was blogging about my view from the windows.” that happens a lot in my world. i will take a few photos and show them to my family and it’s “why did you take a photo of this” and “why didn’t you take of photo of that” and “you should do this, not that.” so, these photos were taken the morning after our big snow storm — the snowiest day on record! pretty, huh? (and the reason i took the photos i did? because that’s what i wanted to, that’s why! sigh)

February 11, 2010



SNOW! i love snow. it makes everything so quiet and peaceful. it even smells good. looking outside my windows today and taking photos to see how pretty it is. isn’t it amazing how snow can make any view from your window look so beautiful?



well…..almost