Goodbye Ash Trees

While looking at the pictures of the Piliated Woodpeckers I noticed that the giant ash tree was splitting.

Previously there was no concern about the tree falling on the house because of the way it grew towards the sun and away from the house. But with the split half of it could come down on the house. The tree guy assured me that it wasn't going to fall for quite some time, unless there was another massive wind storm like the two we had back in September of 2008 and January of 2009. So we scheduled a day to cut it down. It rained that day and snowed the next. Wednesday it was cold but clear and a good day to cut down a tree, or two or three.

Up the tree he went and down came the branches.

Until all that was left was a huge pile of firewood.

While it seems a little bare now, it's not all that different. The tree was so tall that all we saw of it was the trunk. The view from the front of the house is where the missing tree is noticeable. The tree was so tall that it towered over the house and could be seen out front.

Fortunately there a many more dead Ash trees in the woods so the woodpeckers will not go hungry.

A Day at the Pool

Friends invited CJ and I to hang with them at the pool last weekend. This was our first visit to this pool and we were very impressed and will be heading back soon. There is a small lap area connected to the play pool. So while CJ waited for his friend he swam laps.

While I waited for my friend I enjoyed sitting at a poolside table reading and loving the warmth and the pungent smell of chlorine.

Both the warmth and the smell brought back memories of swimming at the Main Line Y. It was a small facility, the pool had only 4 lanes and one had to be careful to not fall into the pool when climbing onto the bleachers. My grandparents would come to my meets and I didn't think much of it then, they loved me and the Y was close to their home. But sitting at that comfortable table feeling very warm, I became a little weepy thinking that they sat through those really long meets on metal bleachers, watching all of us swim up and back and up and back. They were very good to me and I miss them.

OK, back to the fun at the pool.

Much fun was had going off the boards in the lap pool.

This was the closest thing to a posed picture I could get.

Another Amazing Bird

There was a flutter of movement out back that caught my eye. It was an owl getting comfortable in one of the trees. Grabbing my camera, slowly & quietly, I was able to get a couple of pictures. From this one it would appear that he knew I was there and was not concerned. Was he trying to see if I would make a good breakfast?
 

This is a Barred Owl. Named for the bars running along his chest. He is one of two owls with brown eyes, the barn owl is the other.

His tail feathers are amazing, how do all those spots get lined up so precisely?

 

He finally settled on this position, hopefully sheltered from the cold and wind. This was the morning that it was still below zero at 8am. An hour later he was still there, now with some company.

A group of smaller birds were sitting on nearby branches seemingly looking at him. Then came the blue jays. There were two of them loudly calling out what seemed like warnings. Do Barred Owls eat other birds as well as mice?
It was a great treat to finally see the owl that has made us smile with its "who-cooks-for-you, who-cooks-for-you-all" hooting.

Brrr...

Earlier in the week the forecast promised sun and warmer temperatures by the end of the week. The forecast has changed. This morning my computer jolted me from my sleep at 4:30 to warn me about a winter weather advisory. It was 1 degree outside. Three hours later it is -2 degrees. The temperature isn't supposed to drop as the sun comes up.

The TV10 forecast below once again says the it will be sunny and warmer later in the forecast. Something to look forward to, maybe.

Well, at least we will have the sun today and tomorrow and it might get to 30 tomorrow, that will be like a heatwave!!
 

SEVEN DAY FORECAST
Thursday High: 17° Low: 0° Sun & Clouds. Bitter winds continue.	Friday High: 30° Low: 10° Partly to mostly cloudy. Not as cold.	Saturday High: 35° Low: 22° Flurries from Friday night early. Only a slight chance.	Sunday High: 42° Low: 27° Partly to mostly sunny & warmer.	Monday High: 45° Low: 32° More clouds, warm-up continues.	Tuesday High: 44° Low: 29° Partly cloudy and still seasonably warm.	Wednesday High: 47° Low: 32° Seasonably warm and sunny skies.

A Saver in the House

The gift at the top of the Christmas list this year was a PS3. The gift not given this year was a PS3. Poor kid, so mistreated!!!

The main reason for not giving the PS3 to CJ was that he was saving for it, and doing a good job at it. Watching him make the decision to save rather than spend was heartwarming. Another step towards independence(we have had quite a few lately).

On Sunday, CJ counted his cash and to his delight he had enough for both the PS3 and the desired game. After some research on who had the best deal we headed off to Target.

On the way home CJ said, "It feels better to buy something that you've saved for than to just get it".

WOW, we are so proud of him!

The Elusive Piliated Woodpecker

Since moving into this house we have heard the woodpecker many times. I had seen one briefly at a neighbors house many years ago. Thanks to the Emerald Ash Borer two Piliated Woodpeckers are visiting our backyard. These pictures were taken a couple of days after the ice storm.

Battle of the Bows

CJ went to school on Saturday. No, not for detention.

The day was spent playing games, fiddling, learning new fingerings and bowings, learning new songs and making new friends.

The music director from Otterbein University lead the mix of high schoolers and middle schoolers through their day of learning and fun. 

The battle was between Teams Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Cello and Bass.

We are proud to say that Team Cello won!!!

The winners got first dibs on the chocolate at the end of the day.

And concluded with a short concert for the parents.

They sounded great.
Thank you to Mrs. Cornett and Mrs. Waite for your dedication, patience and love of our children.

The birds have been busy in the woods. The picture above has 4 birds in it, can you find them?

The bluebirds are back. This is their second February at our feeder. The feeder has been busy although there have been only a couple of cardinals, which is strange.

The other critters noticibly missing in the woods are the deer. I haven't seen any at all through all of the weather. I hope they found somewhere cozy, warm and safe to wait out the storm.

Another Calamity Day

Last night the rain started again. By 10pm the area was covered in a thick layer of ice and school was cancelled. Overnight the temperatures went up and some of the ice melted, most of the vertical surfaces were free of ice.   This pile is what fell off the back of the house last night.

The creek was visible again.

So why the calamity day? At 6:30 this morning it was a balmy 36 degrees. At 10:30am it was down 10 degrees to 26. And it will get even colder as the day progresses. That and the wind is gusting to 25 mph. Everything that had melted is now frozen again. And lots of places have lost electricity. The weather should be out of our area by 6pm leaving us with fridgid termperatures lots of ice.

So, that's the last of our calamity days. 

February is normally our snowiest month.

Hmm...

Calamity Day

Can't call it a snow day since we haven't had any snow at all and it looks like we won't. When Steve got home from hockey last night he covered the truck with a tarp. He's a smart man as this is what it looked like in the morning.

The back steps were just as icy. Tucker did manage them safely though. He and Steve did not fare so well on their morning walk. They both took a spill but are okay.

 CJ and his friends had fun 'sledding' down the neighbor's driveway.

Then it was relaxation time.

Steve reports that the main roads are clear.

The neighborhood is still a mess. This is the longest we've gone without seeing a plow. They must have been really busy last night.

Their is still another storm headed our way. The forecast calls for more freezing rain tonight an maybe tomorrow. We shall see.

Grade Card Prize

In celebration of an excellent grade card, I brought home a burger and fries for CJ.

At first he was a little dismayed by the mustard, he shares his fathers disdain for mustard, but a closer look revealed that the burger was not what it appeared to be. The fries were really sugar cookies, the bun was a cupcake, the burger was a brownie and the dreaded mustard was yummy icing.

CJ's grade cards have been impressive since entering middle school. This one was even better because this time he did it on his own. The homework got done because it needed to be done, not because I asked(nagged, bugged, annoyed, pleaded). And, he got an A in math!!!