Thursday Challenge : Winter

It's cold.
I know, it's not as cold as other places, but it's cold.
Like..finger-hurtin kinda cold.
Like..hair-freezin kinda cold.
Like..My-skin-feels-like- paper kinda cold.
Like..I-never-drink-coffee-but-it-sounds-good-today kinda cold.

Yeah..it's that cold. 

Terrible Two

 

Not the best quality photo.. but they're cute enough you can ignore that, right? 

Ok, so it's not THIS bad . . .

My Driveway

... is an ice skating rink.

Wordless Wednesday

Yeah, that about sums it up.

Project 365

I've decided to join Project 365. This will be a challenge for me, considering I rarely like photos of myself. The challenge is to take a photo of yourself everyday for 365 days and enter into a group of other 365rs. Doesn't always have to be your face, but you have to be in it somehow and it has to be taken each day by you.

I think it will give me opportunities to be more creative on a daily basis and get over the "I hate my photo taken" problem. Or.. It might make it worse. We'll see.

I won't be posting the photos here, but I wanted to post on it for those other photobloggers out there that like a challenge :)

Three Thirty Thinkin'

This first week of 2007 has been an interesting one for me. I've seen and felt many changes. But, some things have remained exactly the same.

Relationships have changed. I've grown closer to some, and I've fallen away from others. I have built some relationships in the last few months that I can't imagine how I ever did without and never want too. Of course this always balances out and you lose some you never thought you would.

I have felt happiness and disappointment. I have seen extreme generosity and kindness, and I've seen great selfishness. I've seen hearts bloom and hearts break.

And no... none of this came out of my television ;)

I will make some changes this year. Positive changes.
This is a goal I will attain.
2007 will be my year of change.

And, I'm thinking the first thing on my list will be a sleep remedy :)

Beware of Horse

This one has been in a mood lately. Terrible teens maybe?

She bit me. No, really.

It hurt. 

Covered

There are steps under there. Somewhere. 

Placing Blame

So, I realized lately that my blog is loading very slowly. With help I narrowed it down to the photos. Not necessarily how many, but who I load them through. I tried changing how many days/posts show up on one page and that didn't help either. Unless I narrow it down to one day, I didn't like that.
If I load through blogger = SLOW.
If I load through Picasa = much better, but I can only load one at a time. So posts with a few photos aren't an option. Blah.

So if my blog annoys you because it loads so slowly. Sorry.
Not my fault.

Blame Blogger.

Ice Sculpture

 

Breakaway

I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly
I'll do what it takes til' I touch the sky
And I'll make a wish
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway

Out of the darkness and into the sun
But I won't forget all the ones that I love
I'll take a risk
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway

Wanna feel the warm breeze
Sleep under a palm tree
Feel the rush of the ocean
Get onboard a fast train
Travel on a jet plane, far away (I will)
And breakaway

Hi There

Okay, Just One More

I know.. more pics of this guy. But he's just too cool to ignore. He's not that bothered that I'm out photographing him. I guess the food is more important.
My porch overhang is so dark, so I have to use a flash. Looks like I took this at night.

I also get some beautiful Flickers, but they are quick. I'd have to park myself out there for awhile to catch one of them.
The chickadees also love the suet, along with the stellars. The grossbeaks though don't touch it. They want the seeds. Funny how particular some of these birds are.

Snowed In

Snowing again this morning, I think we've gotten at least 3 more inches. The broken buck is here with the group this morning, I've noticed he stays with a group most of the time.











The foot is still very swollen and he's still very slow, but he does try to use it. He's still in a dangerous position though, being so slow. I wonder if the crowd protects him?











The snow fell off the roof last night. It's so high right now, you can walk right off the porch without using or seeing the steps :)












I have a small amount of shoveling I need to do, but nothing major. This is when I need a young boy to come by and offer ;)











Guess it will be a stay in kinda day. Watch it snow. Try to be creative indoors.

Saturday Bum

  

Scavenger Hunt : Memory

Remember as a kid, that feeling you would have when you woke up to snow?
It didn't matter if it was an inch, or several inches. To look out the window and see snow was exciting! Especially if schools were closed :)

I had that feeling this morning.
I fell asleep early for a change, and then of course I wake at 3am and am wide awake.
I decided to take a peek outside since it was lightly snowing when I went to bed.

Several inches have fallen in a few hours and still falling.
And that memory came back to me.

Beautiful :)

Christmas Again?

Hmmm....

I could do some major Shopping :)

or

Wind up with a houseful of catnip.

Lunch Break

 

The Downeys really love this feeder :)

You can see the abuse it's taken from the woodpeckers already. 

One Stop Dining

 

A neighbor made me this feeder.
You soften suet, or make your own, and fill the holes.
The birds love it :) 

CD Player

  

CD's and a Camera.

Closer

Best shot of today :). I cropped out the suet this time which gave a pretty good closeup. I had to use flash during the day to get this shot, which has darkened it and made it quite bright:)

It's been pretty quiet around here. I haven't seen the broken buck in two days. Of course he moves slow, so maybe not a big surprise. I did notice that he's actually trying to use it even though not too successful. But, could be positive that it might be trying to heal. Let's hope :)

Snowed off and on today, but we mainly have mush and slush everywhere. Full moon tonight but the clouds hide it from me :(
With the slushy roads I have put off trying to go back to the Eagle Watch. Bummer.

My Gorillapods came today, I will play around with them and let you know what I think tomorrow :)
I'm also drooling over a new camera (you're shocked, I know). It's an upgrade to my Panasonic Lumix, and it's niiiice.

I'm such an addict. 

Back for More

I know it looks the same as the first pics. So what? 

He's Baaack

Do I even have to tell you how excited I am that he's hanging around? 

Time Waster

Here's Something to do when you have nothing else to do.

Hat-tip to Samantha :)

Rows of Color

Exactly

Starting from Empty
Half-Full Consciousness

We are all familiar with the metaphorical story of two people looking at the same glass and one perceiving it as half-full while the other sees it as half-empty. As much as we’ve heard this, it’s still a valuable exercise to really observe our minds and notice whether we are engaged in half-full or half-empty thinking. People will refer to themselves as being of one type or the other as if it was a permanent characteristic, but we are all capable of shifting into a half-full consciousness if we simply make the effort.

When we look at our lives with half-empty consciousness, we perceive a lack and think that the other half of what we want is missing. We are coming from a position of expectation and entitlement. On the other hand, when we look at our lives as half-full we perceive fullness. It is as if we recognize that our cup could be fully empty and so we are grateful for what we see as bounty—not something we expect or believe we are owed, but a gift. In half-full consciousness, we count our blessings. When we look at our lives we see all the elements that are in place and all the things we do have. This doesn’t necessarily mean we don’t seek more, but we seek from a place of fullness instead of from a place of lack. This fullness draws positive energy into our lives and often attracts more abundance.

If you would like to begin to make the shift into half-full consciousness, try imagining your life as an empty glass. This is your life without all the people you know, the work you do, your home, or your current state of physical wellbeing. This is just an empty, open space waiting to be filled. Once you have that feeling of openness in your mind, begin filling it with all the people, things, and places that make up your life. You may be surprised to find your glass overflowing.

Daily OM

The Boys

Moose


Trout

Visitor

I have a pileated woodpecker hanging out right outside the porch this morning. This has never happened in the 4 years I've been here. He's really loving that suet cake :)

I keep several out, especially this time of year and get several woodpeckers, including Flickers and Downeys. This is the first time a Pileated has been so close :)

I took so many pics in a row, flash and no flash, just hoping to catch him before he saw me and flew away.

Cool :)

Decisions

I've read a lot of posts lately where there are no resolutions being made. Makes sense to me.
The usual resolutions, lose weight, exercise more, be healthy, stop smoking..yada yada yada... never really pan out anyway.

I didn't make any resolutions either, but there are a few nagging issues in my life I knew I needed to do something about. Either fix, accept, or change completely.
Funny thing though, it seems it's all being taken care of for me. I don't have complete control over some, but it doesn't seem to matter. What will happen will happen, and I am determined to accept things as they are and move forward.

Didn't say it was easy. But resolutions aren't supposed to be easy, right?

Did you make any resolutions?
And if you did, do you believe you'll stick to them?

January Theme : It's Snow Lovely

Wanna Play? Click on the Icon ;)

Iron Woman

So today I spent a lot of time at this site, wanting to try just about everything.

And now I found the Iron Chef marathon. I love this show :)

Maybe I should go into Culinary Arts?

Chillin'

I'm sitting in my comfy bed. It's snowing heavily outside and I'm surrounded by pets.
I'm drinking suisse mocha with hazelnut chocolate liquer in it, and I'm soon planning a big ol' bubble bath.

I sound like a fricken International Coffee commercial, don't I? :)

Focus

You can't depend on your eyes if your imagination is out of focus. - Mark Twain

Neat Idea

I'm borrowing a Meme from Marianna, who borrowed it from Christie ~ what a better way to start out the New Year!

Here's how it goes:

The year has come to an end, so as a COMMENT on my page, leave a memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot or not at all really, anything you remember. Next re-post this post on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.

Handle With Care

ChezBez has the right idea on how to safely transport our loved ones on New Years Eve :)

Where can I find one of these strange safety seats??