Happy Day, Woody Woodpecker and My Favorite Color (BLUE!)

38 Degrees and mostly SUNNY.  Wow!  Today was a gorgeous day in the UP!

Just a quick post before bed, because I can't stop thinking about today and looking at my pictures.

So....maybe you want to look at a couple of them, too???

If you don't, then STOP NOW, because I'm showing them anyway.

We drove up to L'Anse today and drove on both sides of the bay, enjoying the gorgeous blue of the sky reflecting on the water, watched men and gulls and mergansers hunting for smelt, saw tundra swans sunning themselves from their little patch of ice. Bliss. Amen.

Looking across from L'Anse to Sand Point Lighthouse

Baraga (in real life, that road doesn't seem nearly that steep!)

framed by pointy spruce trees is nice

I thought it looked like the branches were saying "tah-DAH!" towards the beautiful view

my favorites here are the cloud reflections, and the fact that you can see the rocks on the bottom of the lake here...it's deeper than you think, too

smelt fishing

which is YOUR favorite color of blue...is it the sky reflection, or the aqua ice?

look it up on Google Earth...that's the Keweenaw peninsula on the left side

close up of lighthouse

fishing mergansers

smelt catcher

diving ducks

tundra swan family

It was sooo beautiful there today.  The fresh cold air coming off the lake was so invigorating! And have you ever seen such beautiful blue colors? I promise you, I didn't enhance my photos in any way.  Bob agreed, if anything, these pics are not quite as bright blue. If you read my blog, you know that blue is not usually my favorite color....today....it WAS.

One more really fun treat today was my favorite (today) bird....Woody Woodpecker.  Actually, a Pileated Woodpecker, big as a chicken, and so weirdly cool, landed close to our car and stayed there for longer than I've ever seen one.  I'm not sure what she was doing, but I made a MOVIE about it. And here it is, your dessert course of this post: (Click the green words) They call me MISTER Pileated! (Edit..this title is erroneous, because this is most likely a Missus Pileated.  Her mustachios are definitely black and not red.)

What a day!  Hope your day was great fun, too, and that you are enjoying the winter!

It's Movie Day Friday!

Are you into Netflix?

I am (addicted).

Give me a little time, and I will find a series to binge watch, or else I will get stuck on a genre of movies for a while, like lately it's been foreign supernatural thrillers (subtitles are just fine).

I love to make little movies, too.  And I have absolutely no skill at it as of yet.

It's not that I'm trying to win an award or anything (although, recently, I sorta did), because that's not why I do it.

It always happens when I'm taking pictures of something and I realize that there is something that the still camera just cannot experience. Like a sound, or a strange action, or even something that's continuous, and I don't want to take a bunch of stills to remember what happened.

See, my movies are mostly just for me.

But, since it's Friday, and sometimes starting Friday afternoon, and maybe into Saturday and Sunday, too, it might be a good time to watch a movie (with popcorn, please), I am sharing some of my favorite movies with you.

They are short....like two minutes or sometimes much less, so you can watch a little or a lot.  It's up to you.

Because maybe you've had these burning moments of curiosity (I have several every day!) and you have always wondered something like:

How does a vacuum cleaner work?  (Click on the green word!) Roomba?
Answer:  Just like that, but they don't like raisins.

Why should you never put something in your mouth that's bigger than your elbow?  Don't be Greedy!
Answer:  Because it might make you confused. (And yes, that IS bacon frying in the background!)

What kind of bird is that that I keep hearing that totally drives me crazy? Tink Tink Bird
Answer:  It's just a Song Sparrow, so no biggie, but do you know the other two birds that you hear? Please TELL ME!!!

Are Goldfinches like the canaries of the wild? Goldie
Answer:  Yes indeedy, and we could enjoy it much more if that Chipping Sparrow wasn't interrupting, and the cameraman (woman) could hold the camera still!  (It was REALLY far away!)

How much wood could a woodpecker peck if a woodpecker could peck wood?That's Amazing (to me, anyway)!
Answer: You'd need power tools to beat him!


How does a porcupine in a tree get back down?Very Carefully!
Answer:  Very carefully :)

Okay, if you are more into slasher films than nature documentaries, the next two will appeal to you.
You've been properly warned (don't watch, maybe!).

What Do Eagles Eat I Ewwwww
Answer:  Anything they want, starting from the wrong end!

and What Do Eagles Eat II Ewww 2
Answer:  I'm not sure, but it's either Goosey Gander, or Jemina Puddle Duck. (I DID warn you)

What do Snow Buntings like to do on a sunny day in October? Preen!
Answer:  I'm not sure it's anything we'd want to do in public.

Are eagles and crows the best of friends?Playtime
Answer: Nope.

How beautiful is this Lake Superior you are always talking about? Waves
Answer: Beyond beyond, even when your hands are freezing.

What's the biggest bird you've ever had at your feeders? yes, more bacon...we like bacon!
Answer: Since the eagle hasn't shown up yet, it's this one.

Volume II   Bambi's mother is alive and well
Answer: You know the answer, and for the bonus round, what's the movie playing in the background?

How do little birdies survive the UP winter?

Volume I  Dig, baby, Dig!

and II  Yes, I know the penguin lost his hat! we're not cold!
Answer:  UP winters are the best!

I know what you are saying:  "Your movies are lousy! You said you won an award? What for?"

The truth is, I don't know.  But one of my videos was chosen by Flickr as one of the 500 best photos of the day. I know.  I was excited.

To set it up.  I had been having 50+ Common Redpolls and American Goldfinches in my backyard most days in the snow, and I wanted to show their quick little behavior, and cute little birdyness to the world.  So here is my narrated version of that: ready for the Nat Geo Channel
Answer:  I don't get it, either, but it got almost 3500 views.  Someone (OTHER THAN BOB) must've thought it was funny.

Enjoy a movie this weekend (don't forget the popcorn!)! (with butter!!!)!(!)

SNOW Chapter 2, Anacondas, Massive Herds, Sleeping Bears and Snowball Bushes!

I am learning lots of things about snow that I never knew before.  It's easy to learn things about snow in the UP.  Just hang around and you will see many new things eventually.

For instance, when it really starts to get snowy, the White-tailed Deer form marauding-birdseed-eating bands, going from house to house and rabble-rousing.

a gang gathers

cautiously

intimidating the enemy (me) with their ability to stare me down

or to create a false sense of security with their innocent pretend shyness

or by camouflaging themselves into the shape of everyone's favorite lawn deer statue

or statues

until it's time to STRIKE (the birdseed)

trust me

Scared yet?  I am.  But that's not the extent of the dangers to be found in the snowy north woods.

Snakes!

Yes, you heard me.  Vipers and Boas and Anacondas appear suddenly after especially heavy snowfalls.

Wanna see?  

Okay.

But try not to be scared.

they are somewhat camouflaged in this picture

a constrictor, wrapped around the branch!  see it?

anaconda!

and a small yet deadly VIPER

Of course, not everything seen in the forest is a danger.

I heard a few days ago that 108 inches of snow have fallen here this winter so far.  And I think to myself, "How can this be?"  Just last week, 33 new inches appeared.  And though it does snow quite often here, I can't account for over a hundred inches.  So I determined the snow must be coming from another source.

And sure enough, I found that source today. 

SNOWBALL TREES.

Yes....they can be seen nearly everywhere, growing their crops of snow, which then fall to the ground when ripe.

a nice crop growing

a nearly ripe snowball fruit

nearly ready

mature tree with fruit ready to drop

See....you learn something new every day.

One more thing I learned today is that bears sleep in the woods.  

Yes, I said SLEEP. 

They are hard to see, but Bob found this one today

see it? you have to look carefully....

Okay, I know.

All very silly. But the reality is that Bob and I drove the snowy roads around Paynesville this afternoon, and laughed about the fact that the snow here in the UP is so STICKY.  It sticks in the bushes in round balls.  It hangs on the trees, making animal shapes.  It covers up the vegetation and makes the deer all want to congregate in everyone's yards in Paynesville.  And it hangs on TIGHT to the roof edges, totally defying gravity and making people's houses look pretty, or comical, or maybe even FRIGHTENING.

Sometimes making pretty Christmas-y looking roofs

or swallowing houses WHOLE

Are you scared yet?

I AM.

Not really.

Enjoy the weather, everyone!

SNOW

They say you haven't proven yourself worthy to live in the UP until after you've survived the winter here.

And since November and December were so mild this year, I know I can't even COUNT this one as a winter I've survived...gotta wait until next year!

Oh well, whatever this winter has been about so far, I LOVE IT.

I have never seen snow like this.

I know my Iowa friends would say, "we have plenty of snow here!" And of course, that is true.  I remember a year when my parents drove us to school on a one lane highway with snow higher than the cars on each side. I remember many years of driving to Mt. Carmel from Breda, plowing through HUGE snow drifts in my little pickup truck.

So how is the snow different in the UP?  For one, whatever the forecast, once winter gets going, it snows every day.  Sometimes huge-as-your-hand clumps, sometimes a sparkly dust, sometimes in feathers so light, they seem to fall in slow motion. Sometimes from a clear sky...I don't get that. Except that it makes the sky positively GLOW.

It really is that color

and glows that much

I love the pink

so many beautiful sunsets here

 In Iowa, snow is usually an event, and sometimes it snows a lot.  But slow and steady definitely wins the race, here, and then when the lake-effect kicks in, well...it piles up.  People plow big empty spaces in the middle of their yards for future snow piles.

In Iowa, there is a lot of blowing and drifting, which means deep snow some places, and very little snow other places.

Here you can look across a pristine field of snow, all of its features masked by several feet of snow. The spruces bend to the ground with, literally, tons of snow.

I know these are aspens

and this is a barn

and a sad little house

tons of snow

pretty glowy clouds, too

In Iowa, if you get six inches or more of snow, you can pretty much count on a day off from school. Jordan can tell you, he is not so lucky here.  It's because, I am convinced, that I live in the best county in the whole of the UP for snow removal.  The road commission employees take their jobs so seriously.  Of course, it is a matter of life or death to keep the roads under control around here.  If you want to know how dangerous it is, ride with Bob and me to Ontonagon some morning so you can watch me chicken out and close my eyes as he drives down and down and down (faster than I would drive) on snow and ice on the curvy road to the Military Bridge

this was a VERY good day

and then back out of the valley to Rockland.  I am such a chicken, I know. On the other hand, considering the amount of snow we have, everything is kept so under control.  The icing on the cake is that the road guys and girls even do driveways and lanes...that is an awesome perk of living in this county!

there are about ten deer hidden behind the pile of snow by the driveway, really

I worry about the length of winter around here, and all the wildlife.  The Paynesville deer herd  is getting larger every day, raiding the yards and the bird feeders for every morsel they can find.

sometimes they share nicely

sometimes, someone gets left out

and walks away sad and hungry (couldn't you just HUG her?)

coming running to meet up when we pull into the driveway

There is a little mouse who sneaks into our mudroom entryway to look for spilled birdseed.  And of course, we are feeding about fifteen types of birds every day.

our resident animal feeder

thanks, Bob

I love the colors of Pine Grosbeaks

grazing goldfinches

snow and snow

and snow

too beautiful

to ignore

We will continue to do all we can to give them a little boost through the winter.

That is, if we can continue to find a place to pile the snow!