How to Enjoy Winter, Guest Post by Dr. Ruby

"Brrrrrrrrrrrr" 

Grammy says this strange word sometimes when we are outside.  She says that people are wishing for spring.  But I think it's going to be winter here for awhile yet.  So, maybe I can help.  Let me tell you how us dogs enjoy winter.

First, I pretty much enjoy myself all year long, so winter is no different. It is nice to have something to look forward to though.  I look forward to visiting Grammy's house every Thursday.

 She thinks I run up the steps to greet her, but I am really running for the kitchen.  I check the floor to see if Grammy has cleaned it lately or if there are crumbs for me.  Maybe she does know this, because I don't think she sweeps the floor before I come.  I love those crumbs!  Enjoy the little pleasures in life....

Also, go outside.  You might have to put on lots of warm clothes like Grammy.  

I don't wear clothes, so for me it's simple.  But sometimes I can't stay out very long or my toes get cold.  Like when the thermometer looks like this...  

But even if only for a little while, going outside is great!  Even in winter, there are still lots of things to smell, at least for bassets there are! 

Grammy does not ever seem to be interested in smelling things, but she was oohing and aahing about how pretty the shadows of these trees were--

Another thing fun in winter are tracks in the snow. They are fun to see and make....

Do you know who made these tracks?  See that line along them on the left-hand side....

Yep, that was me.
I had a goldenrod stem stuck in my collar for awhile.

Hee hee, Grammy though it was funny and laughed at me.  I don't mind if she laughs at me.  Why not make someone else smile, it's nice.

My bird friends make her smile sometimes when it's really cold, too.  They get very fluffy-looking...

Blue Jay

Goldfinch

 Too bad they can't come in with us to enjoy a little tropical feeling in Grammy's sunroom.

It is nice to see some green plants this time of year!

 I don't enjoy reading, but people and the doll in Grammy's rocking chair seem to.  I can't understand why she keeps reading that page with a picture of a cat on it! If you need a better book to make the winter go by quicker, Grammy has some she likes - even one about a dog!

Another way to enjoy winter is to take lots of naps.  If you can, a place by a nice fire is best.

I am doing that right now while Grammy writes this for me.... oh, do you need some help Gram?

That's okay Ruby, I think we are done, you can go back to sleep.

Ok! Thanks!  Enjoy the rest of winter everyone!  Love, Ruby

From my Bookshelf

Tired of winter?  I have a remedy for you.  Transport yourself to a different time and place... by reading a book.

Spring! Yes!

This is a great time of year for reading (although, what time of year isn't?) So, I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite books in the nature category.

Right at the top of my list of favorites are these two books:

'The Bluebird Effect' and 'Letters from Eden - A Year At Home, in the Woods' by Julie Zickefoose

These two books are filled with Julie's lovely watercolors (such as the Robin in my top photo), her pencil drawings, and her wonderful stories.  I love her writing and artwork so much, I drove 4 hours one way to hear her do a speaking and slideshow presentation awhile back!  It was worth it!  And, though I'm not into collecting autographs, it was nice to have her sign my copies of her books:

Here are a couple more examples from pages of Julie's books.  If you love nature, you will love her books, I have no doubt.  

'Letters from Eden' was her first book, and in it Julie takes her readers thru the seasons, with stories of her everyday encounters in the natural world.

Besides being an artist and writer, Julie is a songbird rehabilitator, which is the focus of her second book, 'The Bluebird Effect'.  Each chapter focuses on a different bird that she had a close encounter with, from hummingbirds to ospreys.  

They are very 'readable' if you are like me -- and love nature, but aren't looking for a heavy, scientific tome!  That is a quality of each of the following books as well.

The next two have been on my bookshelf for years!  They are the kind of books that I love to pull down every few years and re-read.  I guess that makes them classics, doesn't it?  Which is kind of funny because on the back of 'The Pine Barrens' by John McPhee, it says "It will be a long time before another book appears to equal the literary quality and human compassion of this one.  Among books of its type, it could be a classic" (N.Y. Times Book Review).

'A Naturalist buys an Old Farm" says on its back cover, "A heart-warming book to treasure and read again and again".  I agree, and I have done that myself (it was printed in 1974).

Next, I picked two books by another favorite author, Farley Mowat:

You may have seen the movie they made from "Never Cry Wolf" quite a few years ago... while I thought the movie was okay, read the book, it's better!  And "The Dog Who Wouldn't Be" will have you laughing.

The next two books will show you that I'm still partly a kid at heart...

'Owls in the Family' (another book by Farley Mowat) is for children or the young-at-heart.  I just read it for the ?th time and enjoyed it as much as ever.  It does have a bit of a sad ending, and might be offensive to you in parts if you don't like things like shooting crows, just as a warning.  

I have previously mentioned the other childrens book in the photo in this post.  I still occasionally like to read thru Marguerite Henry's 'Birds at Home'.  She wrote it because she wanted to learn about birds and it's full of interesting things she learned by watching the birds near her home.

Oh, and by the way, 'Owls in the Family' is a true story!

Another book that was made into a movie a few years ago was 'The Big Year' by Mark Obmascik.  It was an okay movie, I thought, but once again, the book is better.  A similar book, 'Kingbird Highway' by Kenn Kaufman, was even better in my opinion. 

A book I picked up for a dollar on a library book sale table turned out to be a good read and I've kept it on my shelf to read again sometime.  It's 'Going Wild - Adventures with birds in the Suburban Wilderness' by Robert Winkler.  Similarly bought was one I've only started reading that's been good so far: 'Club George - The Diary of a Central Park Bird Watcher' by Bob Levy.  So, it's interesting to be 'transported' to the suburbs and New York City while reading these books!

A  summer-time transport via book reading in the winter is nice.... such as 'Appalachian Summer' by Pennsylvania author Marcia Bonta.  It's interesting to read her journal-like writings from an area so similar to my own with its familiar birds, animals, and plants.

 

The last book is one I'm thinking about saving to read next summer when we're back to heat and humidity.  Maybe that would be a good time for 'Wintering' by Diana Kappel-Smith.

These are some of the great nature books on my bookshelf.  Now, it's your turn to share... I'm always looking for a good book!

It's time

It's January, and it's raining.  So, it's time.  Time for a post to (hopefully) make you smile.  For me, this is a time of year to 'Spring Clean' so I've been going thru closets and such.  Now,  I'm going to go thru old photos and show you a few that wouldn't probably make it into a regular post, but they are here to cheer us all up.  Because, no matter how much you may or may not like snowy and cold weather, when we have snow at least we can look out and say, "Isn't it pretty?".  Not so much with an all-day-long rainstorm in January.

So, here goes.  If you are clever with witty captions... why not contribute some in the 'comments' sections.  I'm going to number the photos so you can refer to which one your caption belongs.  Who knows, while I'm cleaning our closets maybe I'll come up with a prize for the best one.

Number 1:

Male Rose-breasted Grosbeak... and hey, how about those Spring colors? 

 

Number 2:

Another spring shot (the nest blew down in a storm and we put it back in the tree.  This one just cries out for a funny caption.

Number 3:

Bluebird... jumping from post to post?  No, I just happened to catch it in flight that way.

Number 4:

Evening Grosbeak, not doing anything special, they are just odd-looking in any photo!

Number 5:

Now this bird was doing something odd....

Here's a close-up:

My camera caught this House Finch in 'mid-shake'

Number 6:

Redpoll (from last January), yes.... it did find seeds under that snow!

Number 7:

Juvenile Rose-breasted Grosbeak... wants to be a meteorologist?

Number 8:

Another juvenile, this time a Robin.  Who is the 'first born' in this family?

Number 9:

Killdeer - guarding her nest or performing ballet?

And finally, Number 10, because there's nothing to make you smile like a cute puppy, and she is at the BIRDbath:

Dr. Ruby as a pup.

Beauty in the Cold

Yes, it's cold!  But does that mean you can't go outside?  No, says Ruby!

 Just dress for the weather, and don't stay out too long.
Even though it's winter, there are still many beautiful sights to see.

The swamp this time of year seems quiet compared to other seasons.  No quacking ducks or singing birds (well, a few Chickadees), but there has been someone here before us.

See the tracks leading off from the front center of the photo to the right?  I'm not sure what animal left them, but it was nice to see a sign of life.

Just a couple of days ago, the temperature was 45 degrees and the swamp was a combination of ice and water.  Everyday it changes, especially this winter, it seems.

This was taken on Sunday, a gray but warmer day.  There were lots of patterns in the ice, and even some open water there at the far side of the photo.

That changed quickly and the temperatures dropped into the minus degrees overnight.  Which resulted in some really cool (sorry, I couldn't resist) miniature ice crystal formations.

They were more beautiful in real life than my photos show.  

While the beauty of those ice crystals was in miniature... only an inch or so high, I found beauty in the full-size ice as well.

If the ice and cold is getting you down, take Ruby's advice and get outside, even if for a short while, and enjoy!

"Get out there and make some tracks of your own" says Ruby!

"Then you can go inside and warm up your nose!"  Disclaimer from Grammy: Ruby's ear flopped right over her nose all by itself this way, when she lay down for her nap after we had been outside for a walk!