oh, I'd love to have some anna's or black-chinned or buff-bellied or calliope here, too, patrick, but I sure love the rubies! sarah, I was holding the camera, and was seated about 8 feet from the feeder. I was indoors, looking through the window. the optics and zoom on the canon s1-is are great, but already I want more pixels. this one is 3.2 megapixels. I sure am having fun with it, though. I hope my visitor is here again tomorrow!

I like them too. We had some nest on the back of the farm several years ago, they completely demolished a sweet corn patch. We gave up the corn for the fun of watching the little birds hatch and grow. it's my understanding that they are legal to hunt in some states, I guess there are big populations in some spots. I have a friend who calls them "ribeye of the sky". He was amazed that we had such fun watching them. There are quite a few of them in southern Michigan by Elery's, there's even a winery called "Sandhill Crane Vineyards". We went to Lowe's one day for paint and there were a couple standing right under a tree in the parking lot, just watching people come and go, so I'm thinking they're either curious or not so smart. (grin) Cathy, I'm glad I'm not the only one who moves turtles. The girls used to call it "turtle patrol". We'd be driving along and I'd pull over and yell "turtle patrol". The girls would bail out and (while watching for traffic) move the turtle. I was told by a DNR officer to always put them on the side of the road in the direction they were heading or they'd just turn around and go right back. I don't know if that's true or not, but we always did/do. Yeah, Elery thinks I'm nuts, sometimes. Maybe most times. Annie

Hey Mingo! No fair... why did you get to stand next to the Sugar sign! lol Now I see how the pretzel holder/coosie works! I thought it was kind of weird that the pretty blue ribbon was next to the outside of the cup. You gotta give me a picture with your creations next time! This brain doesn't always work 100%. haha.. Joann, why don't you use the picture of all 3 of us (if the others approve)?

Well, it certainly did not take much time to get way behind! John, my old barn is kind of like a walk out basement, there is earth on two sides, an old fieldstone foundation and the south side has a large sliding door which I leave open so the cattle can go in and out as they choose. There is no heat and the water tank would freeze without an electric tank heater, so it's warmer than outside and out of the wind, but when it's below zero outside it's about 10F inside the barn. Add some big cows and body heat will raise it another 10 or 15 degrees, so maybe up to 25F. It's dry, though, and out of the wind. so a much better place for the little guys who don't have the sheer body mass to stay as warm as their mothers. My littlest one is 9 days old now and seems to have survived the worst of the weather without ill effects. One more is still to be born, so it'll probably be Friday night because Saturday is supposed to be a high of 22F and a low of 11F. Sunday will be similar then Monday back up into the mid-30s. I've been checking the barn and calf "crib" multiple times daily, making sure there is dry straw, that no new babies are left out in the weather, no water tanks are freezing, and everyone is OK. I have so much winter gear that it takes longer to get everything on than it does to do the farm "check", LOL. Thankfully, it was up above 40F today, and Elery says anyone who says they like winter does not have livestock! Meals have een quick, this was a baked potato covered with chili from the freezer and a side of coleslaw: After that we had roasted radishes/romanesco/carrots and some maple glazed salmon: A kind of "burrito bowl" with beef barbacoa, also from the freezer, some riced cauliflower and rattlesnake beans from last year's garden. The cauliflower was left off my plate, I just cannot make myself eat the stuff. Hamburgers with our grassfed beef and some freezer dill pickles that I found when I was cleaning the freezer: Finally, baked chicken breast from chickens we raised last year, mashed potatoes made with some of those canned potatoes and some salad that was supposed to be an Olive Garden copycat. I ate the salad but I wouldn't make it again, it was unremarkable. Tonight we had a high heat roasted and nicely rare top round, which was unfortunately very tough, accompanied by baked sweet potatoes and a package of "kung pao broccoli" from Aldi which had been languishing in the freezer. Elery liked it but it was a bit too spicy for me. Good thing chickens don't have heat receptors in their mouths because mine ended up in the chicken bucket, LOL, and I forgot pictures. And that's what's for supper here, although I'd sure like to have some surf and turf or shepherd's pie or shrimp. Tomorrow we are going to have "supper" at the neighbors' home, as one of the ladies is having a birthday and she just wanted a whole meal of "snacky finger food". I gave her a big bag of chicken wings from last year's chickens and she's going to make those as well as some little smoky sausages wrapped in crescent roll dough because she likes those. She does not care for sweets so in lieu of a cake I made Fire Crackers, some cheese crackers, a batch of whipped feta dip and I'll take a jar of my homemade salsa and good tortilla chips. Annie