Ice Storms

We have had two different ice storms already this winter. The following photo illustrates what essentially every branch and twig on every tree and bush (and every power line) currently looks like.


Naturally, this adds quite a bit of weight to everything, but it can also add some beauty to the overall scene.



In addition to power outages and slippery conditions, some of our trees have taken quite a hit. Our big white pine suffered some damage in last February's storm, but it recovered fairly well. This time, however, the damage is pretty severe. Most of the upper branches have broken, and there are broken stubs all the way down. Lots of the broken pieces are still hung up on branches that survived (for now), and there is a huge mass of bent and broken limbs at the ground. These are currently frozen down, so until it warms enough to melt the ice, I can't really clean up the mess.


On the other hand, the bush that I decorated with four strings of lights is now completely encased in ice and drooping to the ground, but when the lights come on each evening, it is quite the sparkling show.

You Won't See This at Your Bird Feeder Every Day

We have been paying lots of attention to our bird feeders the last few weeks. With the snow and ice, birds have been around in large numbers, and numerous species have graced us with their presence. For example, we have seen dozens of juncos, chickadees, nuthatches, goldfinches, bluejays, cardinals (lots and lots of cardinals), mourning doves, downy woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers, common flickers, and many others. The heater and bird bath that Will and Sandy gave us a couple of years ago seem to be a big attraction along with the food we put out. Sunflower seeds and suet blocks are the main feeding attraction, though the finches still prefer the thistle seeds.

However, in the last week, we have witnessed a real first. About a week ago, we spotted a bird of prey in our linden tree, which is very close to the feeders. Naturally, while this guy was around, everyone else was gone. I managed to get the following two shots with my 400mm lens. At first, we thought this might be a peregrine falcon. The bird is relatively small as local hawks and such go. It might be 14-16 inches from head to tip of tail. We have used whatbird.com to try to identify it, as well as our own bird books. Now we think it might be a broad-winged hawk. However, your suggestions as to other possibilities are welcomed.



The big surprise, though, occurred this morning, when my local nature photographer, Kathie, came to tell me what she had just seen. I was working in the shop and missed the action first hand. The usual array of birds were feeding, when Kathie saw a large bird, probably the same one above, swoop in and catch a male cardinal. It held it down until it died and then flew away with its prize. Kathie managed to get the following picture before it took off. She had to use digital zoom to get close, so the picture is pretty blurry, but you can clearly make out the hunter and its prey.



When we started feeding birds, we had no idea we would begin to create a natural food chain. In prior years, we have had wild turkeys and even deer at the feeders. So this has been a pretty interesting source of entertainment. On the other hand, I hope we don't continue to progress to other kinds of predators. We don't need wildcats or other such critters here, even though they might be fun to see.

Eleanor Time

Kathie volunteered to entertain Eleanor on Sunday in order to give her parents a chance to get various things done. What a treat for us! Naturally, I had to take a few pictures. Here she is looking all serious while keeping her teething octopus away from me.


One of her new tricks is sitting up.


We played together quite awhile before Kathie pointed out that she was the one who had actually done the volunteering! I can take a hint! So, Kathie took over the entertaining. Obviously, she gets more smiles and laughs than I do.


Great Grandma Novy also spent some quality time with Eleanor.

Lunch with Bob and Lola

I recently received a phone call from Bob and Lola Severin. Bob is my first cousin once removed. For those of you not up on genealogical terms, "once removed" means "in different generations." So, in this case, for example, Bob and my mother were first cousins, making him my first cousin once removed. Bob's children and I would be second cousins.

Anyway, you may recall my dinner recently with Maryann and Barbara. If not, you can click here to read about that. Bob is Maryann and Barbara's uncle, and we had discussed getting together with him sometime. He and his wife, Lola, had to come to Iowa City for an appointment at the VA, so they invited me to meet them for lunch before the appointment.

We had a great time catching up with each other. I doubt that we had seen each other for 25 years or more. Bob used to operate a farm that his father first owned that was just north of the one we lived on near Lowden. So, when I was growing up there, we saw each other from time to time.

Here is a picture of the three of us.

Thanksgiving and Snow Therapy

Many of you readers out there will know that Kathie's mother has relocated here to Iowa. During the months of September and October, she had some health setbacks from which she is recovering nicely. However, everyone agreed that all of us being nearer each other would be a good idea. Florida is nice, but the distance was making regular togetherness difficult.

Anyway, November and December have been months of transition. It had been quite a long time since Mother and her two girls and their families could be together around a Thanksgiving table. This year was different. Gail and Greg, Vicki and David, and Kris and her friend Tom were all able to be here with us. Also, Jessica flew in from Nashville. Only Travis was unable to be there. Although I failed to take a picture of all ten of us around the table for the dinner, I did get a number of other shots. Here are Jessica and Kris:


Kris and her grandmother spent a little time catching up with each other.


Tom, Kris, and Vicki posed for me.


Here are Gail and her mother.


We guys, meaning Greg, David, Tom, and I, were done in by the turkey and several football games and found it easy to nap. As a result, I had too few opportunities for pictures of everyone. However, I did find David catching some Z's on our couch (he claimed he had been up late the night before finishing a computer programming assignment at the university--I wouldn't know anything about that).


Of course, there was lots of game playing to be done too.



Since Thanksgiving, we have also treated Mother to weather with which she has been unacquainted in the 23 years since leaving the Chicago area for the warmer climes of Florida. We have had an ice storm and two or three good snowfalls. Among other things, she has enjoyed watching all the action at our bird feeders, though we usually let her do this from the confines of a cozy chair in our warm living room.


As part of her recovery, Mom has been doing lots of therapies--physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy, for example. We thought she needed some additional work, so we have put her on a snow therapy program, as you will see below.