Lots of Pictures on a Cold Day

We start off with one that made me laugh. 

You know that we are fighting a mouse infestation. 

That's a begonia plant I am trying to overwinter in the spare bedroom.

I'll be darned if it doesn't look like a mouse has tunneled down into it. 

There is a hole on the left, by the withered stalk. 

Now I don't know whether to water or not. 

When we lived in the country, I often restocked the feeders up to six times a day, 

and I went through thousands and thousands (NO EXAGGERATION) of pounds of 

birdseed for the wildings every week of the winter. 

Today was the first time I restocked six times and on a far smaller basis. 

I also refreshed warm water. 

It was horribly windy, as well as bitterly cold. 

This was our side yard pond yesterday, after a few days of off and on rain. 

It was frozen by this morning. 

We had lots of visitors. 

Including a woodpecker eating on the ground. 

Because these guy's friends were hanging on the feeder eating the suet (starlings). 

I looked back through the pictures I took from the bedroom window, and realized I got none of the purple finches, there were MANY of them. 

Hundreds of these were flying back and forth over our house... we are surrounded by bean and cornfields. 

You see how cloudy it was, I could not get a good picture. 

I left for church early so I could take some pictures.  I get vertigo a little, and I was scared to get too 

close to the railing over the bridge over Stranger Creek. which is really running high. 

The Big Ditch was half frozen, half thawed. 

The clouds had finally started to move a little. 

I saw these two in a field, I think the one on the left may be a buck, but they were far away and it was almost dark. 

And then.... I went along the road where we passed the mallards yesterday, and where I picture the Angus cattle all the time. 

And then, beyond the little pond... FAR beyond the little pond... 

I saw a group of something. 

I finally decided it was the Angus herd, let out in the cornfield behind their pasture to clean it up. 

I thought it was pretty good of their owner to let them out to graze on the leftover corn. 

It was almost dark. 

Can you see them????

I counted fifteen, and they were not cows, they were deer!  I couldn't believe I was 

seeing so many at one time. 

I have some classes to take at the camera store, and I hope to learn how to take 

challenging pictures like this. 

Wow. 

What Jess and Lil did most of the day, and what Jess and I are about to do together on the couch in front of the tv.  

Have a quiet weekend! 

I went back and lightened up a picture of the deer herd...