Here Comes Winter

We've had our first snowfall of the season here now, and it already looks like it's going to stay. The weather forecast was for about 3-6 inches of snow, and it looks like it's been at least that much, and it's still going strong. Everyone here that I've talked to said once it snows it's going to stay for the entire winter.

What you see in the pictures is from early Saturday morning when the snow first began. I took these when I took my dog Isabella out for a walk to see how she'd take to the snow. She liked it just fine, but she didn't seem to care for the deep stuff that has built up since then. She hops over any deep parts she finds. She did that with the fallen leaves too.

I have to say that the snow covering everything is just beautiful here, but I'm still not sure how well prepared I am for winter. I don't even have a snow shovel because I forgot to buy one. I'm going to have to wait for a clear day when the roads are better to run out and get one to clear a few pathways around here.

I've also been told that many of the roads can get pretty treacherous around here when there is snow. So I'm not sure how my nature park search will go now that there is snow on the ground. It's a good thing that I know where to find at least one small park and one big park.

If you don't want to have to go searching for nature parks in the snow you might want to try Cancun holidays instead. One thing you'll never find in Cancun is snow. What you'll find is warm beaches and so many activities that give you one of the best alternatives to the winter cold.

I like my nature parks, but it can be difficult to go through some of the bigger ones in the middle of winter. I was just told that this first snowfall might melt before we get another one. that might make things seem like a holiday with just that. For now, the snow is still coming down as strong as I've ever seen.

It's days like these when most of us feel like nothing's better than to stay inside and keep warm. But of course I didn't do that. I've been outside about half the day for several reasons. the main reason is because I have to go outside every few hours to fill my wood stove.

I'm not too prepared for that this year either. It's not that I don't want to go outside so often. It's that I haven't had enough time to get enough wood for the winter. I'm glad my dad made sure there was a backup system to keep things warm around here. So I won't have to go outside quite as often later, but heat will become a little more expensive. The cheapskate in me is screaming out.

The one thing that won't change is that I'll still be bringing you some wonderful winter pictures and my long winded, but very fun, words. I've actually had a lot of fun today out in the snow with the dog. And now I'm running out of words to say, so I think I'll say goodbye for today.

Just Caught A Blue Jay

I'm going to try a shorter post today. Maybe I can post more often this way. As you might be able to see in my pictures, I've been taking a lot of pictures of birds. I got this blue jay in some bad light, so I had to enhance the picture just a bit. I liked the bird too much to not share it.

I'd like to thank all of you who identified the junco in my last post. As soon as I saw the first identification from you I slapped myself in the forehead. I said in the post that I should have known what kind of bird it was. I've seen these little birds before in some of your posts, so I knew I've seen them before.

The problem is that my memory is nonexistent nowadays and my research skills are rusty. I actually saw juncos on one of the online bird guides, but theirs didn't look anything like mine. I thought even then that maybe my bird was a junco, but how could I say so if there was no match? Once identified though, I did a junco search on Google Images and there they were, hundreds of pictures that looked just like my little bird!

I also mentioned in my last post that I was going to go in search of the closest nature park to me, a place called Five Ridge Prairie State Preserve. The place is huge and I know right where it is, but I didn't know where the entrance was. I did my search and still can't find it! After I got back home I found an address for the place, so I'm going to try again in the next few days if the weather doesn't get too bad.

One thing neither you or I will have to search that hard for is all inclusive family holidays. That's because the link is right here. Much easier to find than my hidden nature park, and you won't have to drive a bunch of hilly dirt roads to do it. All it takes is a click of your mouse.

I really wish I would have taken a few pictures for you while I was on my nature park search. The tops of the hills I was driving on offer some spectacular views of the countryside. The problem is that I'm still a city boy so I'm a little nervous driving some of these places. In some areas there is a pretty huge drop, and I like to move on quickly to places where I feel a little safer.

I will definitely get those pictures for you some time in the future. It might not be until spring, but the wait will be well worth it. I guarantee that they'll be some of my best pictures ever. This country around here is the most beautiful I've seen, and I've always thought at an instinctive level that it is home.

I'll be back soon. I hope you liked my rambling little post, ad, bird, hills and all. Oh, the blue jay says, "Bye."