snow continues

snow continues to fall. for those of you who enjoy the snow and especially for those of you who live in climates where you just don't get to see snow, here's a feast of backyard snow scenes for you. first we have icicles hanging from the gutters around our home. this is a new phenomenon for us. as you know, we had a new roof put on our house this year. we also had leaf guards put on our gutters. apparently, the gutter guards are preventing the freezing liquid from going into the gutters, so it is just freezing over the gutter guards and forming icicles down the front of the gutters instead. according to the roofer, this should not pose a problem. they are kind of pretty, but i don't like lengthy icicles near doorways or walkways as when i was very young, a friend of mine had a grandmother killed by a falling icicle (she was impaled by it!!!!) i guess you could say i have an unnatural fear of them (should be a horror movie about that...) anyway, we'll have to figure something out with the icicles, no matter how pretty they are. 

for those keeping track of the snow on the patio set - here you go. last year it was virtually buried. let's hope it doesn't get to that this year. 

then we have guinness, my cavalier king charles spaniel, being a nut in the snow. he loves snow, but more importantly, he loves chasing leaves and this particular day it was very windy. quite a few leaves were blowing on the top of the snow (if you look real hard you can see some brown specks on the other side of the fence, those are the leaves he is after). well, guinness is easily distracted by these things and this particular day i had to literally go out and carry him in as he wouldn't/couldn't stop focusing on the leaves. it was also very cold, with a high around 5 degrees without the windchill. 

i love birds and if you look carefully, you will see a male cardinal in the feeder. he is not happy, as he doesn't like the feeder to be all covered with sticky wet snow. he's making the best of it though. i have several feeders, including suet feeders, as i love woodpeckers also. i also have a heated birdbath outside my kitchen window so the birds can drink during the winter months. i feel so absolutely sorry for these creatures this time of the year and any way i can help them out, i do what i can for them. 

last year was the 2nd snowiest winter on record for wisconsin and so far this december we are close to being on track with last years pace with snowfall. i certainly hope we don't make it to that point. personally, i don't mind sitting in our nice warm home watching the snow fall, but with our home, his mom's driveway, and an apartment building to take care of, marc would never be here - he'd be off snow blowing and shoveling. i don't like that. i help out when i can, but that's not a whole bunch. 

artwork update: i have finished my holiday cards! i did a mix this year. a handful of store bought disney cards from when we were in walt disney world, but the majority were made by me and this time a hybrid. the front of the card was a digital card photo and the inside was a tag, stamped and embossed with a hand painted punched snowflake. of course i always do multiple stardust gel pen signatures from marc, me, the dogs and cat. have i every mentioned stardust gel pens? gosh i just LOVE them! they are beautiful no matter how or where you use them and the colors are FABULOUS. 

note: i recently found out that they are canceling the tv show pushing daisies. major disappointment in my life. i love that show. i knew it would happen sometime because: 1. i love it!; 2. it's a wonderfully creative show; and 3. did i mention that I LOVE IT? anyway, i have all the episodes aired so far on my ipod. i haven't watched last weeks episode. i'm saving it for a special time... enough said. if you get a chance to check it out, you will not be disappointed. apparently it is very expensive to produce and hasn't had enough viewers to continue production. there is talk about another network picking it up (PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE), but we will see. in the meantime, i'm hoping my other fave show, life stays on the air. i'm not a cop show kind of person, but the zen influence on this show is enough to carry it and keep it interesting. i'm not sure where it's going with the story line, but it's interesting enough, suprising enough (i hate knowing what's going to happen in a show before it happens) and the music is great too. that's a plus. 

stay warm! ps - it's snowing tonight, but also freezing rain off and on. at daylight we will see what mother nature has up her sleeve for us.