Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Tag Archives: Michigan


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Cold birds

It’s been cold here. Really cold. Mornings are often close to 0F if not below. (-17C)

Perfectly puffed.

My backyard birds need extra food to survive, and they’re eating about 40 pounds of oiler seeds a week. Not to mention the big bag of peanuts in the shell, and the 10 pounds of shelled peanuts and the 20 pound of niger seed.

Startled by the lady with the camera.

I don’t think they travel far from my yard. When I’m out there filling the 6 feeders and one suet cage they chirp and flutter in nearby shrubs and trees. Maybe they’re discussing the menu. Probably more likely they’re wondering why I’m so slow.

Waiting impatiently for his favorite feeder to be filled.

Before I’m even back in the house they’re already swooping down to see what fresh treats I’ve left them. Sometimes I stand against the house, under the eves, and wait to see who shows up. I’ sure they know I’m there, but they can’t wait to grab a snack. If it’s not to windy and cold I’ll stand there awhile, enjoying the sound of their wings and their gentle chirping to each other.

A titmouse on alert, looking for the biggest peanut to snag.

During the winter months, when they’re so hungry and not busy raising a family, they seem to all get along. I have 5 pair of cardinals that will eat side by side on the railing where I spread seed in the worst weather, so that everyone can eat at the same time and no one has to wait.

Diving into supper.

In the spring and summer the cardinals will chase each other out of what they seem to feel is their own territory. You won’t find them eating together when they’re setting up households and struggling under new parent responsibilities.

The titmouse is the bravest of the birds. They’re usually the first to arrive when the feeders are newly filled. They’ll even come hop around the shrub nearest me as I pour seed on the railing. They are not afraid and they pick the biggest peanuts in shells every time. The peanuts are almost as big as their heads. They are very proud to get the prize seed before the big bluejays show up.

A puffed up shy junco waiting for the lady to go inside.

The chickadees are right behind the titmice, making a lot of noise to announce their arrival. They like a particular feeder and often flit back and forth between the shelter of the shrubs and the safe, caged, feeder.

A fat little goldfinch getting frustrated at the wait for lunch.

And I have a band of 7 bluejays that send a scout first who will announce when it’s safe. Then the rest of them swoop in, scaring, for a moment, the little birds. But soon they and the littles are all eating together.

Mourning doves taking an apres meal nap in the empty, heated, birdbath.

But if, suddenly, all the birds disappear it’s important to look around. Because sometimes the reason they’ve all hidden is this guy.

Standing on one foot while warming the other on a cold morning.

I’ve seen him attack a huge thorny barberry bush where the little birds like to hide, trying to get lunch. So far I haven’t seen him suceed at that. The little birds fly out and he’s tangled up in the thorns.

On the day I shot his image last week, it was close to zero out. He was, at first, standing on one foot and keeping the other warm up under his feathers. But he eventually put two feet firmly on the feeder hook and surveyed the yard for quite awhile before he flew off into the woods to look for an easier meal.

Ok, I’ll pose for the lady.

So there you go, some of my cold birds, most puffed up to conserve heat. This week it might get up into the 40s (4 C)…for one day anyway. I expect the birds will be sunbathing in relief.


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Hey! Does anyone remember ME?

I think it’s been about a thousand weeks in dog years since you’ve seen anything written by me! Mom keeps saying the world is bigger than me. But seriously. Does anyone believe that?

Hanging out with my dad

Anyway I thought I’d bring you up to date on what I’ve been doing. Which is pretty much always the same. Beg for supper beginning at 3:00 p.m. (sooner if I think my parents aren’t wearing watches).

Just checking on the time, dad.

Continue to beg until Mom gives in at 3:50.

Isn’t it time yet, mom?

Ask to go out. Eat snow instead of doing my job. Ask to go in.

Over there looks interesting.

Ask to go out to inspect my yard. Or bark at the neighbors. Whichever comes first.

Initiating my early morning alarm in case anyone isn’t up yet.

Sometimes I ask to go out very early in the morning. Sometimes mom is glad because she would have missed the sunrise.

I told you mom!

Mostly she is not glad. Did I mention barking?

Mom calls this her artsy image, titled “Dog in Snow.”

She also has been taking me to school. She seems to need the stimulation and mind expanding exercise. I go along to supervise.

I got extra treats to sit on this little stool that matched my leash.

We took a short little class where I got lots of treats. I liked the treats part.

I can do this, mom, if you just stay out of the way.

We are back to doing Rally classes now that the holidays are over. Mom forgot to go the first week. She turned into a slacker without a schedule while we were out of school.

Don’t forget the sit at the end, mom!

While we were there mom noticed the pretty photo opportunity, left from the last trial the week before. I wasn’t entered because mom says we are not ready.

It’s a winter wonderland! Just like our backyard!

I don’t know, mom, when are we going to be ready? I ask to go down to my basement every day and sometimes we do, just to practice our obedience. And get treats.

This one is easy, mom, just don’t turn too close to the cone. Leave room for me!

Mom says sometimes she thinks we’re ready and then I do something silly and she rethinks. There’s another trial in March. She thinks maybe she should try again.

I think I’ve got it mom. You just have to trust me.

But…will I be willing to work without treats in the ring? Mom’s been working on that…but she says I’m not reliable yet. Geeze mom, I’m only 3. Have you ever met a reliable 3 year old anything?

I get extra points for cuteness.

Other than school we’ve been playing in the snow. It snows all the time. The snow banks are bigger than me! Even the snow in my back yard is up to my shoulders.

Gonna need a wider trail.

I told mom I wasn’t going to run around and chase snowballs when the snow was that deep. Other dogs’ parents dig them a trail in the backyard to run around on. I suggested that to my mom. She looked at me and then we went inside.

Come on, mom!

I guess that’s not happening.

So let’s see…school….snow….supper. Yep, those are the three most important things going on in my life right now. The 3 S’s.

And naps. Sleep, starting with S of course, is important!

I hope you are all enjoying your winter. Mom says we could do with some sunshine so I reminded her of this day when the sun came out. She had forgotten. Sometimes the sun comes out here.

I remember there was this one day when the sun came out…

Hey! That’s another important S!

Talk later,

Your snow-girl, supper-hog and super all around ray of sunshine, Penny.

Ready for our next adventure, mom!


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It’s a little chilly around here

The media has hyped this storm for more than a week, warning us of brutal cold and inches, maybe feet, of new snow. And they haven’t been wrong, about the cold anyway. We’ll see about the snow tomorrow when ours is due to arrive.

Last week I dug Katie’s old boots out for Penny. Penny’s feet are bigger but I can still, with a lot of work, get them on her. We’ve been using them for a few days when she goes out to do her business. She’s not a fan.

Ready to go.

On most of our trips outside at least one, and generally two, boots fall off as she runs around in the snow looking for the perfect place. I collect the rogue boots and stuff them in my pocket and sigh, and when she’s done we race for the house.

Most of the time. Sometimes she stops mid race and holds up a paw. Once she tried to hold up three paws all at once and then just sat down in the snow, shivering. When that happens I pick her up and we race, as fast as I can with an additional 26 pounds, back to the house.

I don’t think she appreciates her mom nearly as much as she should.

I just don’t think this is the look I’m going for, mom!

Anyway today is different. When I woke up this morning about 6 a.m. my phone said it was -15F (-26C) and that it felt like -25 (-31.6C). I lay very still. Penny was still sound asleep, curled up next to me, and I didn’t want to wake her.

At 8 a.m. the temp outside was -18F (-27.7C)

Because when Penny wakes up the day has started and that means breakfast and going outside! I didn’t want to go outside.

For a moment I contemplated how I could get her to hold it all day. I soon gave up on that idea and started thinking about how to make this work safely for both of us. I figured out how I could layer up in running tights under jeans under windproof running plants. And long sleeved shirts under sweatshirts under the coat. And two pair of socks.

I don’t think I’ll come over there to get my boots mom. OK?

But for Pen? She was definitely going to have to wear her boots and even then I was going to carry her out to her spot so there was less time for ‘boots on the ground’ and the opportunity to lose one along the way.

She woke up at 7, had her breakfast and then looked at me expectantly. It took forever to get me dressed and her boots on her.

Well darn it anyway.

She was not excited about me carrying her out into the cold. It hurt to breath. I wasn’t excited to be out there either.

It’s a look.

I set her down and she, of course, couldn’t stay on the part of the yard we’ve packed down from numerous trips. No, she needed fresh fluffy deep snow to pee in. Which she soon found and immediately peed and peed and peed.

I was telling her good girl and hurry up all at the same time. The chill was seeping through my coat.

She finished and looked at me, grinned, and ran through the snow, leaped over the pile of shoveled snow at the driveway and then just stood there, looking around. I asked if maybe she’d like to go in?

This isn’t so bad, mom. Want to go for a walk?

Oh no mom! I have to do my other job, and that needs to be over there in the front yard where we haven’t walked before at all! You know, in the DEEP snow!

I sighed and followed her as she leaped over the pile of snow on the other side of the driveway and ran through the snow until she found the perfect spot.

I think it’s better just over here, mom, come on!

One boot came off. I collected it and told her to hurry up. She did.

So then I scooped her up and we trotted through the snow, over the piles, up the driveway and into the house. Success! She’s such a good dog!

I believe the proper fee for doing my stuff outside is three kibbles mom. Hurry up.

And just then then the sun came up.

A sign of coming warmth. We hope.

We’re not heading out there again until much later today, when we can hope that the sun will warm us up to at least 0F. A veritable heat wave.

Stay tuned for stories about snow tomorrow. I won’t ask you to read a whole post about Penny doing her business again anytime soon.

I did good, right mom?

Promise.


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Catching up

I have a new laptop. Can you tell? I can, there’s a different feel, things are in different places, and I have to figure everything out.

What’s going on down there?

For example, I can’t find the cursor to put it where I want it to do any editing. Getting the images in is hard too. I can cut and paste previously typed stuff, but I can’t delete anything. So odds are you’re going to see the same sentence repeated because as I was inserting photos they were going in the wrong locations and I was trying to move text around them.

I’ll just ignore all that going on over there.

AND I have this backlog of photos to show you! Of course they’re mostly birds, shot in my own backyard because sometimes I look out there and I can’t not take their pictures. They are soooo cute. And beautiful too.

Hey lady! This is supposed to have water in it!

I have so many images of the same birds eating out of the same feeders. But each time I’m hopeful of getting that shot. You know the one. The one that makes you gasp or smile or both.

Hurry up and eat before some big bird comes along.

Sometimes I think I’m the only one feeding the birds in my neighborhood. They sit out there in the trees and shrubs and seem to wait. I’m hardly ever back in the house when they’re chowing down on the newly filled feeders. It’s cold right now and I’m filling six feeders 2x a day.

Does that make them spoiled?

Coming in for a landing.

So now I have all these images that I’m just now getting processed and you just need to see them. I have virtually nothing interesting to say to accompany the pictures.

No bird in this image…just beautiful frosty ice.

The birds have been so hungry they are getting used to me standing in the window with that big black lens pointed at them. I think they’ve decided the risk of me is worth it. Or maybe they recognize me from all my trips outside to fill their feeders.

Just leave all the peanuts in the shell to me and I’ll leave you guys alone.

I guess I could tell you that all of these were taken from across a room and through a window. Thank goodness we paid some nice gentlemen to wash the windows this fall.

There are five of us cardinal couples at the feeders daily.

Whenever I’ve tried to do the windows I end up with a streaky mess. The guys that come here twice a year do a beautiful job and I don’t think they’re very expensive given all the windows we have. We try to get them scheduled in the fall before the weather would make window cleaning really miserable.

We were pretty late this year but we made it. In addition winter started a little early. Does that mean it will end early this spring?

How many of us do you see?

Probably not. The winter this year seems more like winters I remember as a kid. Cold and snowy. We’ve had snow on the ground most of the time since Thanksgiving.

Eating upside down is good for your digestion. Really.

Anyway I think I’ve rambled enough to show you some of the images I got last month. I have a whole other set of images from the ice storm. That was pretty amazing.

Hi, I’m a titmouse and I fly really fast. And I eat a lot. Cause I’m such a crazy little bird.

I’d like to get all these photos from 2025 processed and filed away. Cause there are even more on my camera waiting to be downloaded from 2026!

Stay tuned.

Make room for incoming!

I’m just going to publish this and see what it looks like. I can’t get to the preview either, and I can’t delete some stuff, though I was able to delete a few sentences and then I lost that ability again. It’s going to make me crazy if this is the way things work!

But I’m glad to just get some photos out there. I’ll try to see if I can edit it tomorrow. Maybe the laptop (or WordPress) just needs a good night of sleep.

UPDATE: Apparently WordPress just needed a nap. The editing today went just fine. I’m not going to reread this post, I’m sure it reads somewhat clunky as I was working so hard last night just to insert an image or a paragraph. But I feel better that I can at least delete repetition. Hope you enjoy the birds!


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Junco smiles

There are some little birds around here that only visit me in the winter. They spend their summers further north and when I see them hanging out here for the first time each fall I usually feel a slight twinge of sadness.

On cold days they puff up even more.

Their arrival at my feeders are one of the first signs that fall is slipping into winter.

Showing off his puffiness.

For whatever reason this year there seem to be a lot more than usual, and I’ve been enjoying them hopping around looking adorable.

Hopping down to the ground, their preferred feeding space.

They are such poofy, round little birds. The males are dark grey and the females are a bit more grey brown. But honestly it’s pretty hard for me to tell them apart. I think all these images are males. And you can tell they are juncos by the pinkish beaks they all sport.

Matching his (or her) winter background.

This year instead of resenting their arrival I’ve been enjoying their antics. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing them too, even if only in this post.

A little snow early in the season doesn’t bother them at all.

Merry Christmas everyone. May you all have a peaceful holiday.


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The one no one notices

Some birds get all the attention. You know the ones. They’ve got beautiful bright feathers and they like to show off.

Afternoon light at the heated birdbath.

But I’ve been watching Mrs. Cardinal as she frequents my birdfeeders. Her subtle coloring is as beautiful as the flashy feathers of her mate. She’s a quiet beauty.

She attempts to hide during the early morning sunrise.

For the past couple of days there have been several female cardinals at the feeders, in the branches of the protective honeysuckle bush, and hiding among the last leaves of the beech tree.

Finding a safe place during our first real snowfall.

I notice how beautiful she is glowing in the light. whether it’s the early morning slanted sunrise or during an afternoon snow storm. She’s modest, though, and won’t sit and pose for long.

Too much attention and she’ll head for quieter places.

You have to be satisfied with her brief appearances and wait, hopefull, for your next glimpse.

I noticed Mr. Cardinal watching her too. He seemed as smitten as me.