Baby, it's cold outside!

This is the view outside my window mere minutes ago.

According to the noontime news, we're in for yet another snowstorm.

"Say, what????"

"Sorry, Sammy!" I guess he hadn't heard that news until I just announced it.

Lucky for him, the feeder is filled with an assortment of bird seed.

Chow down now, Sammy. It's going to be COLD tonight.

Of course after eating, it's always good to wash food down with a nice drink.

Unfortunately our heated birdbath got unplugged by accident yesterday. We plugged it back in this afternoon and topped it off with warm water until the frozen part thaws, so thankfully Sammy was able to drink to his heart's content.

It looks like someone else dropped in for a drink...

He's coming closer, Sammy! I think you'd better finish up and give Mr. Blue Jay his turn!

And speaking of Blue Jays, they are most definitely enjoying the feeder as well.

As are the Juncos (you see one in the background),
who love all the seed that gets tossed to the ground.

Looks like a little squabble might be brewing over who's hogging the seed.

(Not that I claim to be an expert on blue jay body language. Just saying).

Here's a little "simulated snow" as this iswhat it will look like in about an hour.

I took this photo of Mrs. Cardinal several days ago, just before our weekend storm arrived. 

(As you can see, we didn't get all of our leaves raked up before the snows came.)

I have to say, the birds and Sammy squirrels really enjoy the heated bird bath on these COLD winter days. My old heated bird bath stopped working toward the end of last winter, so I made sure to buy a new one before the freezing temperatures arrived this winter.

And here's the view inside right now
(as reflected in the antique wavy-glass mirror), 

where we're very blessed to be while the snows fall outside our front door.

Stay safe and warm wherever you are!

This week I'm joining Brenda at Cozy Little House for Tweak It Tuesday
and Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday

Donna

Rainy days and Mondays....

 We certainly got a good soaking yesterday...

(Ajuga)

... with several heavy downpours from afternoon into evening.

(Basil)

Therefore, all of my photos were taken from the deck, under the protection of our canopy.

Here's a little clip of the rain coming down....

Once the rain stopped, I went back out on the deck. While taking another little 'camera video' I captured a male ruby throat zoom right by me, totally ignore the feeder, and go for the hanging plant. In the background, you'll also see Sammy Squirrel coming out to play now that the rains had ceased.

A few minutes later I captured the female ruby throat hovering right in front of me. I didn't even realize she was there until I played back the video.

(Red Nasturtium)

I've yet to see any hummers at the nasturtium that I have planted on the deck, so I moved the pots very close to the feeder. Hopefully they'll visit them now with the change of location.

(Orange Nasturtium)

And they very well may be visiting the nasturtiums on a regular basis, just not when I've been out there. The new location also allows me a better view of the plants from the dining room window.

So far my flowers are holding up pretty good...

I do NOT have a green thumb and by mid July my flowers really showcase that fact.

But they're so beautiful before they start going downhill.

The flowers I always have the best luck with (no need to deadhead or fertilize) are impatiens, and they were hard to come by this year. Many nurseries weren't even selling them, and the ones that were had a 'disclaimer' of sorts up. So far they're all doing great...

After photographing the deck flowers...

... I turned my attention to some of my Sammy Squirrel friends.

This cute guy was watching me from the top of the arbor...

... while this little guy was hanging out on the swingset...

... and this smart Sammy, knowing my peanut basket was right next to me on the deck, decided to come right up and beg for a treat.

Wishing you all a beautiful month of July...

Donna 

The beauty of a blizzard...

School cancellations, trips to the supermarket for last minute non-perishables in case of power outages, batteries for flashlights, and the list goes on. If you are one of those who escaped any of the possible downsides of this storm (flooding along the coast, downed trees, loss of electricity, etc.), it's much easier to appreciate the beauty of these storms.

(courtesy of picMonkey.com)

This was the view from our dining room window yesterday, showing the ivy that climbs our brick chimney and the new gate and fence hubby installed over the summer. I love the snow piled atop the arbor.

This is our dining room window this morning. I had to take the arbor photo from the upper panes on the right side of the window where there was no snow piled up.

Through the top of the left panes, the deck is visible. A brave Sammy Squirrel and Mr. Bluejay are waiting for me to toss out some peanuts...

...while a little junco waits patiently for me to brush the snow from the screen feeder 

so he can get at the seed.

This was the view from the family room slider. 

The snow was piled up to the first grid on the door section. 

The drifting snow was practically up to the patio table, and the chairs are barely visible at all.

It's going to be a while before we're eating out here, I'm afraid.

A bit later I tossed out peanuts for my friends, with most landing on the table.

The "gnome home" is also filled with snow, its window also covered with snow.

Oh, good. Sammy found one of the peanuts I tossed out for him. 

Now we'll take a peek out front and see how the snowy landscape has changed our view.

Here's a view looking down the street. I insisted that hubby, in his sixties, agree to having someone plow the end of the driveway for this 2+ feet of snow. He agreed, so we arranged to have that done. This photo was taken pre-plowing.

A while later, you can see that the end of the driveway has been cleared. They did a great job. But now we need to shovel a path from the house to the driveway and then unearth the vehicles. It's hard to see from this angle, but the snow is almost covering up our mailboxes.

Okay, this is better. From the front door you can see the mailboxes, barely visible above the snow. There's usually at least a 2' clearance between the bottom of our flag and the ground. But now, when not being blown by the high winds, the snowman flag rests on top of the snow.

And there it goes again, blowing in the wind...

This was our mini snowstorm of January 16th, just a few weeks ago. Even though there was snow on the ground, the mailboxes were still well above the snow and the flag had plenty of space below it.

I hope those of you who don't live in New England or snowy regions enjoyed these photos.

I hope those of you who do live here, but winter in Florida, are smiling, as you're reminded of 

why you made that choice.

I hope those of you who love to ski, snowboard, and snowmobile have a blast.

I hope those of you who don't (me included) have an early spring!

Donna

Dog Days, Squirrel Days, Either Way They're Spelled H-O-T!

Oh, yeah. The dog days (squirrel days) of summer are upon us.

When my Sammy Squirrels go flat, and don't even flinch when I open the door, 

you know the temperature is closing in on 100.

It's been brutally hot for at least the past 5 days. How I'd love a good old summer rainstorm.

I think Sammy would, too. 

When he and his friends do muster up the energy to move around a bit...

... they don't go far. They like being near the sound of the water running in the fountain. Sammy brings his peanuts right up next to the fountain to eat. Pretty smart since he can follow up his meal with a nice cool drink. It looks like Mr. Blue Jay in the background has the same idea.

And little Chip is looking awfully impatient while waiting for Sammy to move. 

I think he wants to get a nice, refreshing drink from the fountain himself (either that or steal Sammy's peanut to tuck into his other cheek!) It looks like he found only one peanut for the right side!! Silly Chip.

Wishing you steamy summer heat if that's what you love,

or gentle rains and balmy breezes if that's more to your liking!

This week I'm linking to Tracie's Cottage Garden Party at the lovely Fishtail Cottage

and Cindy's Show & Tell Friday at the beautiful My Romantic Home.

Donna

Easy Peasy Flower Box

It's finally warm enough to plant and put out annuals here in New England!

I love window boxes. Unfortunately our house doesn't have any.

But what it does have is a screen feeder mounted to the dining room window.

And while it holds seed during the winter months for our feathered friends....

and Sammy Squirrels...

... come springtime I reclaim the screen feeder as a window box!

This year I thought it might be nice to have the scent of lavender wafting through the windows...

 So I placed lavender closest to the window and surrounded it with 

the most hardy of my summer friends, impatiens.

 As long as they are watered daily, I've had wonderful luck with just placing 

six-packs and garden containers right on the screen feeder.

(Look at the clematis buds on top of the arbor! They'll be putting on their show soon!)

This was 2011's screen feeder with nothing but impatiens.

 The year before, in 2010, I put calibrachoa on the feeder.

And in 2009, our first summer with the screen feeder, I plopped down 6 packs of double impatiens.

So time will tell how I like the lavender and impatiens combination. So far, so good. I know I can count on the impatiens to flourish as they are the EASIEST annual for me (no dead-heading & no fertilizing - just once a day watering). Hopefully the lavender will be equally easy to care for in this unique "window box" setting.

I hope you are all enjoying beautiful weather, wherever you are!

Donna

COMMENT UPDATE:
I've given a more detailed description of this method in this DIY post, if you are interested in trying it yourself:
 DIY Screen Feeder - Flower Box

I'm linking to a Cottage Garden Party at Fishtail Cottage

I'm also linking to Show & Tell Friday at My Romantic Home.