Some Viburnum berries - which will nourish returning song birds next spring; for some reason they are left alone all winter by the birds that stay here year round. Maybe they need to age to reduce something that doesn't taste so good? They are still plump and red in the spring.
I didn't normally feed birds in the winter back in RO because it also encouraged rodents - which used to be kept in check by house cats - nowadays cats are all indoor cats so that they don't get feline leukemia and the rodents' numbers are high. However, I thought I would try feeding the wild birds (NOT House [or English] sparrows and Starlings) like Goldfinches, chickadees, nuthatches, titmice, cardinals, wood peckers, etc. Might give me something to watch. The neighbors who stay here year round have warned me that winters are long. They were in RO too!!! Duh!
This bunch of Queen Anne's Lace, wild carrots, missed flowering last summer. Doesn't matter, they look really good to me now. I've heard that the ancestors of our cultivated carrots which came from the middle east were purple, not orange. Clicking on photos enlarges them.
We had snow flurries this morning in the front yard but the snow didn't last long once it hit the warmer ground, and, surprisingly, no snow made it to the back yard. Must have been slightly warmer and/or more protected there.
It looks like the bee keeper on Maple Grove Road going to Sandusky has picked up his hives from around the thumb and stored them for the winter in one location. It must be easier to watch over them when they are all together. I saw a large flock of wild turkeys around them last week. Were they picking off sweet honey-filled bees?
That's three separate views. I wonder how many bees are in each hive and the total number. Lots of 'em, for sure. The three major crops grown here are sugar beets, corn, and soybeans. Maybe the soybeans are pollinated by bees? Sooner or later I'll find out.
I barbered today and had to listen to the barber and his customers talking politics. Very annoying. I have hated all the ads and the endless analyzing by the talking heads on TV. I do not trust any of them, politicians, that is.
The ads now take longer than the programs - at least the news programs. Am I the only one who's noticed that the teasers, the trailers that run all day and all night to entice people to watch the news and the programs, last longer than the actual news they deliver between the ads and the teases? I know they have to raise outrageous amounts of money to pay the salaries of the talking heads, the actors, and the sports heroes but it's getting ridiculous - just my opinion. Rome again. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Didn't the Romans have loads of trouble with the boundaries of their empire? Didn't they provide everyone with free bread, water, and circuses? Interesting? I highly recommend the books of Steven Saylor who wrote of a fictional detective that lived during the time of the Roman empire. Extremely well done. They should be read in order - which you can find on the internet - of course.
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