Getting Started on a Cold Day...........

One can see that it is a slow start for me this morning as I am hitting the strawberry pop already this morning.  I am trying to drink a lot more water but the half can of pop leftover from yesterday looked good.  I bought a bunch of pop for a work crew for down on the farm and I have lots of strawberry pop leftover.  It really does look more inviting than a glass of water.

I spend a lot of time in the window editing photos and downloading them with the weather looking like this.  I removed the window box planter that had geraniums in it so I could see out better while sitting down. Sitting here gives me a few different jobs to do while photos are downloading.  I dead head the flowers from the violets and I discovered they were ready for water again this morning.  The poinsettia did not get transplanted into dirt so you can see I am going to lose it soon.  Top notch garden people say never to leave a sick plant among your display as it brings it down and looks shabby.  I will take it to the bird room once I am through blogging.Also the third thing I do is watch for birds attacking the feeders with camera in hand. 

I tried for a better shot but this is the best that I could get.  The snow is very reflective and the back lighting really made it hard to get a clear photo of this goldfinch.  I see in some areas of Iowa the photos of their goldfinches show a lot more yellow.  I don't understand why it varies. 

I belong to a facebook group that are all Iowa photographers who post the views of the state through their photos.  It gives me a chance to see old barns and rundown buildings in Iowa as well as the streets of many towns that I have never heard of before the blog.  The group is getting a little irritated with the weather as they are now digging up last summer shots of flowers and butterflies.  I guess they have no rules so post whatever they want.  It seems strange seeing things out of season during a blizzard.

I am never going to be able to show all the shots I have taken the past few days.  I have decided to show some of the ones that I enjoy most.  It is like a National Geographic photographer who takes 300 shots and then picks the perfect one to share. I didn't take 300 shots but I bet I get 30 a day put on the camera.  It is too much editing so I am now hitting the delete button a lot more now.

These pushy birds do put out strange antics as with this one.  I guess he is looking down to see if he can find the perfect seed.

I keep these two old lawn chairs over by the fence year round.  I move them around so Barney doesn't create a totally dried dusty area along the fence.  If I move them around then the grass can still live in the area and he won't roll in the dirt. When he does that he brings it into the house.  I am sure that the neighbors haven't a clue what I am doing with these chairs and think I am just a crazy old man. I usually do take pictures of them in the winter loaded down as they are like modern sculptures in my yard. This is where they were sitting at the end of the fall season.

 This is a shot of button that I shared on my Photo a Day blog.  He insists on help to make that first step.  We would never leave him standing there waiting so we go out and lift him up to that first step and he finishes the other two steps on his own. It has been a long three day, maybe four if you count Saturday, weekend.  We are leaving the house this afternoon for a few things to buy and just to get out of the house.  Our high to day will be around 23 degrees F. That will seem warm to us.  I spent time outside clearing the snow off the car and it is driveable now.  I didn't want to drive around with a 10 inch snow drift on top of the  roof of the car. I hope everyone is good out there and thanks.............for stopping by today.

P.S.  I did find the photo of the car and I did get it out of that snowdrift.