Yesterday cardinals regally appeared all day at the back porch feeders, the front garden feeders, and down at my garage feeders.  Cliff and I counted at least ten pairs of red birds during this snowy cold time.  We had never seen so many show up to feed.  We also had the rufous towhee, chickadees, nuthatches, titmice, juncos, and finches staging on nearby branches for the feeders and suet.  This year we're seeing more downy woodpeckers and flickers riveting dead logs and pounding on high energy suet. 

The hairy woodpecker became our newest addition to the suet and decayed trees.  One of Cliff's favorite birds to watch is the wood thrush which resembles a chicken scratching the ground and flinging dead leaves into the air looking for bugs and grubs.  It worked one small area all yesterday, continuously flipping over snowy brown leaves eating anything it could find until it finally flew away at dusk.  I kept a pot of water on a low boil on the stove throughout the day putting a little moisture back in the house and de-icing the birdbaths off and on.   Our temperature never got above twenty-two degrees, but we lucked out compared to Atlanta, Chattanooga,  Asheville, and the east coast all which had a wintery mix contributing to vehicles off the road and hundreds of accidents. 

Roads were icy so we stayed home and Cliff kept the stove burning.  Light snow fell all day not amounting to more than an inch.  I baked a small chocolate cake with thick chocolate frosting, made zuppa pasta fagioli, and Italian Swiss chard.  Staying home gave me the chance to go through my collection of recipes, weed out those which just look enticing from the ones I really want to try and organize them into binders. We don't have many days that we can't get out so I enjoyed sitting at the kitchen island with my recipes and doing some cooking.  

This morning our temperature was about 6 degrees when we got up.  The sun is brilliant, and the bird activity has slowed down. The Farmers Almanac predicts more cold snaps before spring.  We got out this morning so Cliff could do his last PT session and evaluation.  He'll have to modify some of his activities and be mindful of how he moves so he doesn't undo all the work he and his therapist have accomplished. 

My vegetable seeds have started to arrive.

I can hardly wait to get out and work in the garden so I can stop baking chocolate cakes.