Ha. Thanks guys. It was kind of pretty as a juxtaposition. Can't complain about the weather guys on this one. They told us when it looked like full blown summer that winter was coming the next day. So, I decided to get some before shots for the after. The cold did do a number on some plants, the fruiting ones that had come out. But, on most of the blooming ones in the pics, they were set back some but will be OK. Blue Bell, the least you could have done is come up and help us close the door, we may have another shot of snow tonight. Crazy. And, uhohgardner, sharp eye. The good news is the only thing we found that had been buried under the snow once it all melted was a newspaper whose headline (would have) warned us "Blizzard on the way". Ha. All children accounted for. ;) They say we got more snow last Friday than we had in the prior three years combined.

It sure is Lisa! It is going to be 60 and sunny here tomorrow! And my blues are finally back at it! I saw the male perched multiple times on one of the boxes of my pair. On the opposite box was a TRES. No fighting! They appear to have their boxes chosen and standing guard! And Mrs. Blue is getting closer and closer to that box! I have HOSP to trap tomorrow (Neighbor's PUMA house and boxes at other trail...80 on sunday! 50's and 60's next week. Is this NOT the PERFECT forecast for nest building?! Seeing the blues so much more active, a beautiful forecast, some things to do, having the TRES...I am SO excited! There's much more to happen in the coming weeks with nest building, hummingbirds returning, trees blooming...it's gray now but full fledged spring is on its way! And I sure can't wait! I just LOVE spring and summer! My boxes are so out in the open though that I've never had Dees...they are nice birds. But I absolutely love those beautiful insect eating Bluebirds, Swallows, and Martins! It reminds you that the battle vs. the HOSP MUST go on! Good luck Lisa! Because the season will get very active very soon!

Kim, Oh girl, pay extra to get pullets only!!!! Otherwise you're likely to get more than 50% male (in his straight run batch of Black Australorps, Chris got 10 males and 2 females, which is unfortunate since he wanted them for eggs....and you can bet that I told him "I told you so" because I tried to get him to NOT buy the straight run chicks). I only buy pullets and still get an occasional male who accidentally gets sexed incorrectly by the chicken sexer when they are segregating chicks for shipping. Also, if you order online and have them shipped, most companies throw in a few extra for added warmth and to make up for the occasional weak one that doesn't survive being shipped (we rarely have one not survive shipping though), and I swear, the extra ones they toss in are always cockerels. Last year, I ordered Black Copper Maran pullets and 2 Black Copper Maran cockerels, which still was 1 rooster too many (but a coyote got 1 rooster, so I ended up with 1 rooster in that flock). I can handle having a couple of extra roosters because that situation tends to resolve itself over time anyway as one becomes dominant and the others tend to assume a lower position in the pecking order, but Chris has way too many of them who each believe that they are the top guy and they are driving me crazy with their wild fighting and chasing the women around all day. Jack, Yep, that 400 miles is the problem, isn't it. I love my Copper Marans, and the Copper Maran rooster is just gorgeous and yet also gentle and sweet. He is the best rooster we've ever had. He tolerates having the banty roosters hanging around with him all the time, but isn't crazy about my son's exotic roosters that are fancy, high- faluting and conceited. Two of his roosters are some sort of rare breed (I always forget their name) that are black from head to toe---black feathers, black comb, black legs.... black everything. They are beautiful but very aggressive, although only aggressive with other birds, not with people. He ordered the eggs last year and we hatched them out in an incubator set up in my husband's home office/TV room, so we had no way of knowing if he'd have males or females. He hatched out both males and females, and a third male that isn't pure black, but has some sort of gold and silver spangles in his genetics. I have to chase them away from my birds every now and then, but don't want to get rid of them unless they turn unbearably mean. I agree about the good thing about living far enough south that snow isn't a constant all winter. All it takes is one round of snow here and I'm happy. I like to watch it fall, watch it pile up on the ground and then.....hopefully, quickly, watch it melt. We don't get much snow down here and that's a good thing because I get tired of it quickly, especially when it gets gray and slushy and ugly. Bon, I hope the temperature keeps climbing, because I think 17 is not warm enough. I hope you get a good long nap to make up for staying awake all night feeding the fire. Thankfully, we don't get too many of these bitterly cold spells in winter. lcdollar, I've had winter cover crops tolerate colder temperatures than I expected some years....definitely down to at least 1 degree (the coldest we've been since moving here in 1999). They had freezeburn and turned that really dark greenish-black, but rebounded and put out new growth with warmer weather returned. They never really died----they just stalled, looked like crap, and then recovered. Hopefully yours will do the same. Our winter rye grass in the dog yard is that blackish-green on top today, but underneath the freeze-burn, there is healthier green grass down close to the ground. Prepare to be jealous y'all, because my Min-Max thermometer is showing 32 degrees right now, and we are forecast to hit at least 33, so we are about to go above freezing, albeit not by much and probably not for very long. Dawn

Love the pictures and envy the beautiful snow, an opportunity to luxuriate in one's home that we're missing here in central Florida. Temps are up and down here also. As low as in the 20s just long enough to damage winter bloom and delicate foliages but mostly swinging from the high 30s-40s-50s up to 70s-80s. At 4 this morning it was in the high 60s thanks to cloud cover and I was sitting on the patio listening to the night life out in the marsh. Yesterday 40s and we were surrounded by heavy mist lit by what moonlight made it through. "Blizzard" cooking? The best chicken salad I've made so far pre-dresses baked white chicken with very flavorful pan juices, so I'm going to try that again. Grapes, greens, wine, patio. Nice, but cooking up a storm in a blizzard sounds wonderful. Enjoy!