fully bullies

Yikes, did I miss last week?  It's been so busy here that it's hard to stay on schedule!  We had an amazing Valentine's Day hike at Eagle Creek.

When the trees are bare, you can really see the bird nests!

We had a small celebration at home, with fudgy brownies...

...and lots of board games.  I decorated the whole downstairs in streamers...Frances was a huge help in taking them down!

We continue to have a bounty of birds in these late winter weeks. I've been at the window so much that I've tried to justify it as a "bonding experience" with the cats...

You can usually find them on their window perch.

We see bluebirds daily...hopefully they'll inhabit the new nest boxes soon.

The big pileated woodpecker comes every day too.

We've had some trouble with the European starlings that live around here.  They're invasive and definitely "bully birds." A flock will descend on our suet feeders and they'll be empty within 2 days. They fight with each other...

...and with our other birds.

When the suet feeders are empty, they stare accusingly through the window.

There are ways to starling-proof your suet feeders, but that would make it difficult for the woodpeckers to feed.  We've just resigned ourselves to refilling the feeders...a lot.

Yesterday it got down to 27 degrees, and tomorrow it will be 70.  As I wait for temperatures to moderate, I'm inside baking...

chocolate cupcakes with sweetened peanut butter filling and vanilla frosting

...and finishing up some last-minute knitting.  I haven't been knitting too much lately...just a pair of socks for a Christmas gift...

...and this cowl for myself.  I love a very tight two-loop cowl and found a great pattern right before Christmas.  I knitted over the holidays and finished in January, but as usual, I drag my feet on finishing.  The cowl was a tube that had to be grafted together like the toe of a sock.  The graft was a bit clumsy, but I'm really pleased with the final product.

I love chevron stripes!

Todd modeled it for me.

It probably won't be cold enough to wear it this winter, but I packed it carefully away for the end of the year.  I love finishing projects, especially ones where I dread the finishing.  Hooray!  

Have a great week!  

white bread instead

The weather is whipping back and forth between unusually warm and fairly cold, which is typical for an Indiana February (...and March...and April...).  On warm days...we hike.

There's really an embarrassment of riches when it comes to hiking around our house.  When we lived in South Carolina, we had to drive an hour for a good hike...here in southern Indiana, we're surrounded by opportunities.  Morgan-Monroe State Forest, which is 24,000 acres and the second largest state forest in Indiana, is just three minutes from our house.  We also like to branch out to Bean Blossom Bottoms, a 733 acre wetland wildlife preserve that's only ten minutes away, and to Lake Griffy, a 1,200 acre wildlife preserve that's only 16 minutes away.  This week's Lake Griffy hike was two hours on a rugged trail, a bit too long and rugged for Borga... 

...who continued to rebelliously slip her collar...

...until Todd carried her the rest of the way.

Still, it was a great hike.  I love finding new growth in early February, since I'm so starved for color by this time of year.

roundleaf ragwort

grape fern

haircap moss

We also saw a familiar face:  a little muskrat, carefully watching us pick our way across the limestone bluffs.

This is clearly a favorite place for others, too.  What a nice tribute to a beloved friend!

Yes, we love to get out on warm, sunny days...

But on cold days, we stay in and enjoy nature through the window.  Thankfully, we get a lot of birds congregating nearby.

tufted titmouse

I'm also baking on cold days.  In my attempt to eat less processed food, I'm looking at different homemade recipes to provide my daily toast.  I found a wonderful white sandwich bread recipe that makes soft, sliceable loaves every single time.

I've always preferred wheat bread, though.  I tried a recipe from the same site yesterday.  It utilized a sponge that was meant to cut down on the bitterness of homemade wheat.  There was a 5-hour total rise, which is a lot, but it paid off with a delightfully soft and springy loaf.  It tastes good, but has committed the sin of being difficult to cleanly slice. I think I over-proofed one of the steps, because the loaf sank a bit in the middle, and the top separated from the loaf bottom when I sliced. I'll try it one more time, but I'm going to look at other recipes too.  

March is just around the corner and is going to provide many more opportunities for us to get out and explore.  Until then, we're just going to follow Barnabas' lead and take it easy!

Have a great week!

collar choler

A couple of weeks ago, we had some amazingly cold weather.  

eerie and frigid sunrise

Below zero at night and barely above during the day.  Claudia was comfortably ensconced in our heated barn, and we were careful to keep the bird feeders filled.  Some lovely visitors...so puffed up against the cold!

dark-eyed junco

song sparrow

European starling

pileated woodpecker

blue jay

northern flicker

Everyone shared, with just a little grumbling!

red-bellied woodpecker pair

Then rain and fog...

...and now it's warmed up enough to do a little hiking!  Any morning that it's above 20 degrees, we're on the trail for a twenty minute walk...but on really nice days, we go a little longer.  Last week, we hiked for an hour.  Borga, however, is not the intrepid hiker that she used to be.  Now she frequently sulks and slips her collar...

...and stubbornly refuses to walk through water at all.

Maybe she'll be more interested as the weather gets warmer.  Right now, only the cats are enjoying the benefits of the chilly sunshine!

Have a great week!