(civil) war-torn but on the mend

 The snow lasted until...today!  Beautiful glittery snow...

...criss-crossed with the telltale signs of heavy travel.

I love seeing everything snow-covered...

...and I love seeing the birds come out.

pileated woodpecker

male cardinal

Still, it was a rough week.  The temperatures dropped to single digits, and both Todd and I got sick with bad colds.  We had to miss an eat-along viewing of 1971's Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory at the local theatre - a major disappointment.  At least we both felt well enough on Sunday to watch a Civil War reenactment at Spring Mill State Park.  Guns were blazing!

There were deserters...

...and plenty of casualties.

Ready...aim...

Bayonet charge!

You'll notice that for the sake of historical accuracy, several of the soldiers were barefoot (in the snow!).  They all had to laboriously re-load their muskets after a single shot, too.  It was agonizingly slow.  I couldn't imagine that inefficiency in a real-life battle!

Other than that little outing, life around our house has been very...very...slow this week.

Sleepy cats, sleepy us.  But now we're both better, and the weather is warming up a bit.  Hopefully we can get back outside again soon.  Have a great week!

jay display

Original Valentine's Day plan:  hiking at a national wildlife preserve...until the temperatures dropped and the cold rain set in.  Instead it was tex-mex, board games, and a relaxing evening of Everybody Loves Raymond.  Oh, and baking...a lot of baking.  

A friend's daughter was turning 21, so I made a surprise-inside cake.  First, I baked a halved vanilla cupcake recipe in a sheet pan and cut out lots of 2s and 1s...

After freezing them for a few hours, I stood them up inside a half-poured chocolate cake batter...

...and then spooned the rest of the batter on top.  Freezing the letters means that when the cake is baked, the letters/numbers will thaw instead of 'baking twice,' which would make them tough.  I don't have a photo of the inside of the cake, but each slice has a pink '21' inside!

I had a baby shower this weekend, and made a cake for that...

...and at the same time as the shower, Todd had a toy show on the north side.  I wanted to make plenty of treats for him and the friends that were helping out.  I made brownies...

(all photos taken on a rainy day in a dim kitchen, so are pretty terrible)

Blueberry bars....

...and Nutter Butters.

Oh, I also made another batch of peanut butter cookies for the baby shower.  It was a very busy couple of days!  

The cold weather was perfect for cats on laps.

It got colder, and...snow!!

The feeders drew a lot of birds...especially blue jays.

So...many...blue jays.

Even though they're 'bully birds,' I like to see them.  Besides...our other birds seem to stand up to them just fine!

Nice bit of color in a dull month, too!

Todd's made one trek out to check the trail cams in this cold weather, but we caught something interesting.  It's coyote mating season.  Are these two playing?  Fighting?  Courting?  They seem to be having fun, whatever it is!

(maximize screen to see better!)

This is my favorite part.  :)

Maybe there'll be PUPPIES in the spring!

Have a great week!  

hibernation tendon-cy

Photos that I've taken this week:  three.  

One, when we had a freakishly warm day and made Claudia come outside for some fresh air:

Two, when said warm day created beautiful ice cracks in the front pond:

And three, a really beautiful late-afternoon sky that I observed from INSIDE the house.

Late January is tough.  It's cold, and I don't like to be outside in the cold much.  It's grey and wet, and there's just not much to photograph.  Not much going on inside, either.  I've developed tendonitis in both Achilles tendons and both shoulders...so no repetitive-motion activities right now.  No sewing, no embroidery, no puzzles, and minimal lifting heavy camera lenses.  I've started physical therapy and am hoping to get back to normal activities - on a limited basis - within a week or so.  Meanwhile, I've looked at some old photos from the late fall that didn't make the blog cut.  Still, I think they're worth remembering.  When the flowers, the leaves, and the green grass has faded for the season, sometimes the fungus that remains can provide both color and interest.

crown-tipped coral fungus

pink-mottle woodwax

unknown fungus

slime puffball

cantharellus lateritius

mushrooms forcing up through a crack in the concrete

mushroom unknown

Now, this LOOKS like a fungus, but it's actually a wool-sower gall.

The wool sower is a type of wasp which lays eggs in white oak trees.  The larvae develop inside these woolly balls.  They don't hurt the oak trees, and I think the galls are quite pretty!  

I like seeing these interesting shapes and splotches of color during fall hikes.  Speaking of hikes, we've got a big one planned this week, so hopefully I'll have some photo diversity soon!

Until then, more cats...

...and trail cams.  This one is from early January...the date is incorrect on the video.  One, two, three raccoons!  We're also feeding a couple of raccoons on our front porch every night.  They're huge!!

Here's to more interesting times in the next week!