Good evening everyone!  As I sit here next to the fireplace, the warmth of the crackling fire permeates every muscle, I can literally feel it right through to my bones.  The light from the fire dances across the log walls giving such a delightful feel on a cold winter evening.  Frost covers the windows as the wind howls swirling snow in every direction. But in here it is warm.  Protected from the exterior elements.  Outside it is bitterly cold. Here I sit, dreaming of a sunny beach, sitting under a palm tree, enjoying the warmth of a day in Hawaii.  Okay.  I can dream.  All of it is a dream.  No fireplace.  No fire.  No log walls.  Though they are finished in pine boards.  So it’s close.  My dream of country living.  The cold and snow part is real too.  Unfortunately.  Started snowing Sunday night. Finally finished yesterday.  Mostly a fine type snow.  Which is good.  Still, it added up to 16 inches.  The snow is deep out there.  Huge piles of snow are everywhere in this town right now.  Sigh.  That makes me think of warm places.  Like Hawaii.  One of my favorite places.  Though I have never been there.  Okay.  Sounds crazy.  It’s these long, cold, snowy winters that last 6 months.  It’s, it’s…CABIN FEVER again!  Sigh.

Even Birds…

I’m sure are ready for spring.  Poor things.  But at least they are well fed.

  I think they eat more than I do.  Muffin is looking at me.  With that ‘look’.  She doesn’t quite understand the feeding birds part.  She doesn’t even really get excited about watching them.  She likes squirrels.  And chipmunks.  She will watch a squirrel more than a 100 feet away.  For a long time.  Hard to understand that.  I was outside for a while this afternoon trying to get some pictures.  I did get a few.

Nearly froze my fingers as well.  It definitely hurts when I finally come back inside and warm them up.  Probably a stupid thing to do.  But I have never claimed to be intelligent.  And I do get some nice pics.  Sometimes.

Yesterday…

The downy woodpeckers were around a lot.  And braver than usual.  I could easily go out and they wouldn’t fly away.  Managed to get very close to one male.  No camera.  I think they know when I don’t have a camera with me.  They are camera shy.  But yesterday the wind was blowing the snow around so much that trying to get a pic would not have been easy.  Would have got my camera full of snow.  Sigh.  Today I went out with my camera, poof, they were gone.  Amazing.

Ahh, Country…

I am just not a city person.  And this isn’t even a city.  Well, it’s called a city.  But it isn’t really.  Used to live in the country.  By a private lake.  Just a small lake.  But it was so nice. There are a lot of lakes in this part of the country.  Lakes, forest, hills, rock.  Great place to live.  But, there is a lot of country right here in town.  Though a lot of people don’t like it.  But what do they expect?  There are deer all over this town.  Does give birth right in people’s yards.  I have made friends with many deer.  I can pet them.  Hug them.  Play with them.  Amazingly when I lived in the country I hardly ever saw a deer.  Odd.  Plus so much other wildlife right here on my deck.  Black bear, fox, chipmunk, squirrel, racoon, wolf.  I hope this year I can get a pic of a bear.  Safely.  They can get quite big after all.

Speaking Of Shopping…

I was, this morning.  Shopping that is.  I saw this guy pushing a cart down an aisle, looking at his phone, obviously texting.  I wish I had seen him the second time too. That time he ran into me.  Literally.  Still texting.  He said, ‘oh’, backed up a bit, then went around me.  Still glued to his phone.  Oh?  That’s it?  Whatever happened to ‘sorry’?  Sigh. Last summer I watched a guy glued to his phone walking down the sidewalk.  He walked right into a tree.  It obviously startled him a bit, but he kept on going.  He almost walked into someone right after that, but the other person saw him coming and moved out of the way.  Smart.  Hmm, I wonder if it was the same guy?

My Apologies…

If sometimes I am a bit long answering your comments it’s just simply because I’m a bit backwards.  I don’t have a cell phone, smart phone or even a somewhat intelligent phone.  I have a landline.  Desk type phone.  Can’t carry it with me.  Normally I am on my computer only in the evening.  Sometimes for a short time early morning.  So it takes me a while to answer.

New Pages…

There is now Steve’s Country Poetry.  Amazing, I know.  I am not a poet.  But I like to have fun and maybe there will be something you might like to read on there.  Soon to arrive will be Steve’s Country Humor, though it won’t be mine, so it just might be good.  Hopefully it will be available by Monday.  And Muffin should have a new post ready tomorrow.  And more will be coming.

That Snow…

I should know better.  Was shoveling last evening.

  Hurt my back terribly, which really showed up this afternoon.  I’m not supposed to shovel snow.  But I never learn.  Sigh.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

© 2019 Steve McLeod (except the warm featured image which is not mine, but it is copyrighted)