CrossRoads Farm

The snow is here.

2003-10-23 - 9:43 a.m.

Yesterday I was sitting at my desk in the workroom. It had just begun to snow a bit. Tiny snowflakes. Whirling around aimlessly. The kind of snow you know won’t ‘stick’. I noticed a small bird fluttering near the nest box behind our mailbox. He seemed to me to be extremely blue. I was sure it was a trick of my eyes. The field behind him is dull brown with dead grasses, the sky a low gray. This little bird, certainly not a jay, was quite vividly blue.

Really it’s deep gray, I thought, as I went to get the binoculars and the bird book. The little bird had a friend when I returned. This one was just as blue. They flew up to the maple tree in the front yard and through the binoculars I could make them out. Quite blue on the back with a red breast like a robin. And their tails in particular were amazingly blue. And there were two others a bit duller than the first two. Sure enough there are two pair of Eastern Bluebirds living in the field across the road. So beautiful. I’ve never seen a bluebird before.

So it snowed. But it didn’t stick. Then this morning we woke up to find a dusting of about ½ inch all over everything. K had a scheduled day off from school so we are having a lovely morning. Pancakes for breakfast then the chiclets went out to play in the snow. They made snow angels and found “mysterious tracks” near the front porch. I’m guessing it’s one of the resident groundhogs. They were outside almost an hour before they came in complaining that they were cold. Now they are cuddled up on the couch watching a movie.

The snow is still coming down. Teensy flakes. And I just realized one of the girls knocked the thermometer off the porch. I’ll have to remember that when I go out to feed the birds after lunch.

Mittens has finally discovered the birdfeeders. He gets very excited when the blue jays come to pick through the kitchen scraps. There are two of them and they stand on the top of the feeder support and scream at Mittens through the window. They are two of the largest jays I’ve ever seen and Mittens, as much as he’s grown, would be no match for even one of them.

<<<--- --->>> Questions, comments, suggestions???