Winter Wildlife

It's been a while since I've posted some photos of our local backyard wildlife (or front yard as it generally is around here).

This little opossum was scrounging around the bird feeder and eating up the sweet potato fries we had thrown out for the birds.  The birds didn't touch them, but he located all of them, even the ones still under the snow, and had a nice little meal.  I felt bad for him because he was limping and favoring his back left foot.  I hope he heals up soon and doesn't become an easier prey target because of it.

We feed the birds throughout the winter and the little Tufted Titmouse is one of my favorite little birds. When food is scarce they appreciate the feeders and become very brave when we refill them. They want to be on standby as soon as the new stuff gets loaded into the feeder!

The Northern Cardinals and Mourning Doves aren't so brave, but they do sit in the closest tree waiting for me to move back a safe distance.

This little mourning dove wasn't concerned about the food - he was peeping inside the french door window while I was clearing off the table.  (Pardon the blurry shot - my windows are very dirty).

Girly Prize Pack

My latest Internet win - an awesome girly prize pack from a Facebook group I'm in.  This one was a random drawing for helping another member become an Uber Brand ambassador and I happened to win the draw. The prize pack includes three varieties of Herbal Essences shampoo, three varieties of Lady Speed Stick deoderant, a pair of sunglasses, a pair of earrings, and a necklace.  Yay me!

March Snow

It's been almost 2 weeks since we've seen the ground due to about 6" of snowfall and frigid temperatures ever since. This has been the view from the front porch for the last couple of weeks.

Yesterday got to a balmy 59 degrees and we got a couple of inches of rain, which melted most of the snow off and started quite a bit of flooding in certain areas. Our pond is about to overflow. It was kind of cool watching the snow on the ground steam as it dissipated.

So this morning, this was the view from the front porch - we can see the ground again! Yay!

BUT wait! There's more!  This is what we are in store for tonight.  (We are in the pink area.)

Can I cry now?  I just want spring. I want to go camping. I want to porch dwell. I want flip flops and sun. *sob*  Daylight savings starts this weekend at least.  That's a start.

Update: I'd guess there is approximately a foot of snow on the ground. We had a lot of blowing snow, but the outside table looks like it's holding about a foot on the flat surface.  It's a good thing snow is pretty.  But it can melt now.

Zep Commercial Cleaner Prize Pack

Yesterday I received a prize pack from Zep Commercial Cleaners that I won last month. I received a heavy duty degreaser cleaner that works great for cleaning stovetops, sinks and anything else that gets extra grimy.  They also sent their new microwave cleaner.  Today is Friday, which is cleaning day for me, so I'll be giving it a whirl today.  And they also threw in a bonus logo t-shirt. I love me some free t-shirts!  Such fun winning things.  :)

Bakeware Set

This is a fantastic Bakeware set I won back in November from Kitchen Daily.  It arrived on New Year's Eve in perfect timing to cook up some yummy food for a small get together. I won it from a contest entry form on one of their blog posts. This was one of the first of many prizes I've won online and I thought I might start documenting some of them here to give a shout out to the folks that do the awesome giveaways and to swoon over my winnings.  ;)

This prize was especially awesome because our bakeware was lacking and old! This covers just about anything we need for casseroles and baking!  We use the red casserole dish a lot for large portions of green beans and the large white one on the right is used for double batches of casseroles  that I make - generally Enchilada Bake.

Here are the details on each casserole dish as per Kitchen Daily:

1. Le Creuset Heritage Square Casserole
2. Juliska Small Casseroles
3. Elizabeth's Everyday Essentials Casserole Dish by Revol
4. Rachel Ray Bubble & Brown Rectangular Casserole
5. Sophie Conran Portmeirion White Mini Casserole (2)

More Charity Bears

I made three more Charity Bears to give out to my girlfriends for the big University of Louisville vs University of Kentucky basketball game over the weekend. I think they turned out so cute! Now I just need to make a UofL bear for myself!

Making these bears has been a great way to get me some extra practice in on the machine and working with curves. These were made with team themed fleece I came across, felt for the muzzle and eyes and large black button beads for the eyeballs.  Photos of the girls with their bears are here.

"Hear Doggy" Dog Toy

This week my pups were lucky enough to receive a Hear Doggy "squeaky" toy...but the beauty is, they hear the squeak and we don't! At first I wasn't sure how well that would work, but sure enough when we squeak the toy we just hear a poof of air, but they tilt their heads like something very interesting is going on! We owe thanks to Go Pet Friendly for giving us the opportunity to try out the Hear Doggy. Lois Lane and L.B. are having some issues sharing so we may need to get another one (even though they will still want the same one).  We got the purple elephant, but there are several different animals to choose from and they are all very cute! Great toy for the dogs!


Hear Doggy Purple Elephant Toy

L.B. likes trying to "kill" it

Is that a smile, Lois Lane?

And the bickering begins...

Buddy doesn't know what all the fuss is about (he doesn't know what to do with a toy).