What's outside of your picture window today?

I’m sorry to hear about your old oak tree that was damaged by the storms rolling through. It’s been a devastating early season for tornadoes and storms down there! It’s a relief nothing was damaged in the fall of the tree! Aw, and I’m glad the red headed woodpeckers still have a home and that you and your family, and all the critters are safe and sound! It definitely could have been a lot worse. Hopefully no more storms for a while!

@loribmt
It’s beautiful all right as long as you’re inside by the fire with the heater blasting away.
All that snow is bad news for the duckies though unless you’re going to invite them in.Jake

The ducks are welcome inside but there is no evidence of wildlife today at all! Just the abominable snowman who turned out to be my husband when he got down plowing the sidewalk. He’s not a happy camper today! 😂. I love it!! Hopefully the duckies will return soon and I can post pics for you. It’s going to be a long time until ice-out…

@johnbishop Thanks for sharing! What a neat birdfeeder! I love squirrels!!! I was just outside with all my squirrel friends. I have 75-100 ft pine trees in front of my condo that they call home. All I have to do is go outside and make kissy noises like I'm calling a dog and within 30 seconds, I have several squirrels at my feet. They come out of trees, bushes, run 100 feet across the grass. So heartwarming. They are so sweet! I see one nursing mama so I know some new babies will be coming around in a couple months.

I hope your ducks show up soon. I used to have a duck couple come by my garden every day when I had a bird feeder up. They are so friendly. There must have been 10 different kinds of birds coming. It was so much fun! But the mice and rats started to gather when seeds dropped on the ground. I didn't even mind having them in the garden since I love all creatures, but when the mice invaded my condo, the bird feeder had to go. Darn it. I can still visit plenty of ducks at the nearby creek. Even though we've had a relatively cold winter in California, it wasn't cold enough to make all the ducks relocate.

We just had 13” of snow today and still over 2 feet of ice on the lake in Northern Wisconsin. Spring feels like a long way off! 😊
Bird feeders are so much fun to watch with all the hungry friends gathering but I’m with you on attracting rats and mice near the house…nope! 😳 Now I watch the neighbor’s feeder without any effort on my part. Lol.

Brrrr! Wishing you some warm weather! Good plan on enjoying the feeder next door!

I hadn't seen a mouse in the house in 40 years. When they invaded during the rains, I didn't have the heart to use snap traps. I bought catch and release plastic cages 6" x 3" x 3". I caught 8 all together and haven't seen any since not even in the garden. I didn't want them to be scared while waiting till nightfall for relocation so I put their little cages on the kitchen floor and dropped in a variety of snacks so they could fill up before their big adventure.

I friend started laughing when I told her that. She said they are now telling all their mouse friends: "I found this great new hotel! The rooms are little small, but the food and service is first rate!" LOL

I had to laugh when reading about your mice adventures…catch and release! I did the same thing several years ago. My husband discovered mice in our garage which was attached to the house. We’d never had any mice in the house but didn’t want to take a chance. While my husband was at work, I bought a couple of Havahart animal traps…couldn’t bring myself to kill the little critters!

The first day, I set the traps with peanut butter. For ‘containment’ if I caught any, I had a 5 gallon plastic pail outfitted with a screen on the top. Filled the bottom with cedar chips, bird seed, sunflower seeds and chopped apples. 😂.
One by one I put the mice in the bucket and caught 8 the first day! Then drove to a nature preserve forest a few miles from us and set them free! Next day I had about 10 more…did the same thing. Always releasing them in the same area. Can’t remember how many times I repeated that over the next week or so. Finally there were no more mice in the garage. I felt good that the family and all the kin were in the same place!☺️ My husband and friends had the same reaction your friend did! LOL. But I could sleep at night knowing I didn’t kill something needlessly. ❤️🐭

Exactly! I love your story!!! I can’t believe how many mice you had. They are so cute! Thanks for sharing!

@joyces Here is southern Douglas County, they gave us winter storm warnings, also. While our town is at about 1300' we may see snow tonight. The winds are certainly kicking up. I went out and "tied down" the wind spinner, certain it would take off out of the rock pile it is anchored in. Very glad we had the dead tree taken down recently, because it would have come down on the house. Listening to the wind chimes on the porch, it sounds like the scene from "Twister" with Helen Hunt a long time ago.

We had a lot of snow this winter; last Monday 3" which they didn't call for. Hoping my trip to Eugene on early Tuesday morning goes with no issues! It's a "must do" medical appointment.

So sorry to hear your husband is facing a rehab facility. How is he dealing with that, how are you dealing with that?
Ginger