December 
Journal
Archives

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
September
October
November

              
1  (2002)Brrrr... Really cold this morning. Everything covered with about 10 " of powder here in Newcomb. Great time to get out and collect your holiday greens and other natural material. I love to use the bright red twigs of the red-osier dogwood. Look for clumps of the shrubby growth in the wet areas. 2  (2002)Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! At least 8" of fluffy powder. That gives us at least a foot on the ground. Perfect as an insulating blanket for the little critters that spend the winter under the snow, where the temp remains a balmy 32 degrees 3  (2002)No, today is really BRRR! Well below zero this morning. Not much activity out in the woods overnight. Too juch fluffy snow for good tracks and the cold weather keeps the animals undercover too. Still, look for pockets in the snow where ruffed grouse dove overnight under the snow to keep warm. Snow can be a good blanket! 4 5 6 7
8 9  (2002) What was I thinking! It was -20 degrees this morning! 10  (2002) Another -20 degrees this morning 11 12 13 14
15 (2007) Been real lazt about setting up the bird feeders this year. Two feeders out with sunflower seeds. They've been out for two weeks now and finally the birds have honored us. And such a welcome! Pine grosbeaks were the first to show up. Never had them before. Beautiful reddish brids with soft gray. I like the females too who have a touch of gold but no red. Big birds, big beaks! Heard there was a pine cone crop failure this year in Canada and we may see some of the northern birds moving through. 16 17 (2002) What are those birds doing in the road? The crossbills can be seen congregating in flocks. Later in the season you'll see evening grosbeaks too. They're looking for the grit left behind by the road crews. We have teeth to grind up our food but birds don't. They grind their food in a special organ called a crop (just before their stomach) They eat gravel to do the grinding for them. 18 19 (2002)"Red sky at night sailor's delight. Red sky in morning, sailors take warning" It was a red morning, this morning. Is there any truth to this saying? Most of our weather patterns move from west to east. The rays from the setting sun reflecting off dry dust particles give the sky a red cast. So dry weather may be coming from the west. But that red sky in the morning may mean the good weather has gone past and something else is coming in. Keep your own weather journal to see how good this piece of weather lore is in predicting weather. 20 21

(2002)Snowshoe hare tracks in the snow
22 (2007) My husband hung up the leftover ribs from a deer carcass in the back yard for the birds. Low and behold, what shows up? A pair of gray/Canada jays! Never seen them around here before! 23 (2007) Redpolls appeared today. I ran out and set up my niger seed feeder. Maybe we'll get some pine siskins too? Haven't had redpolls in years.  24 25 (2002)We didn't get as much snbow as those south of us. Only 6-8"inches 26 27 (2002)

Red Squirrel tableau

 28
29 30 31

 

    HOME		 What's coming up in January? Birds at the feeders, animal tracks, snow, cold