11 January 2007

Freeze Frame

My new cold frame from Peaceful Valley arrived on Monday. It was just in time for our first snow of more than just a dusting of the year. We got about two inches. I was concerned that the frame might collapse since it was a very wet and heavy snow so I went out and swept it off and suffered no ill effects. I'll say more when I get something planted in it.

05 January 2007

Birds of a feather...

The local paper had a front page article this morning about the birds in our area. Specifically, large flocks of starlings are roosting in the trees here in east Abingdon. They roost together at night to keep warm and can create quite a powerful mess to clean up after if they dive bomb your car. We have a row of pine trees in our backyard that borders the town park and they love to roost there. I've come out on the back deck in the evening and startled them out of the tree. They flock through the air together with a massive rush of wind and feathers, like a school of fish aloft. It's actually quite beautiful. My neighbors aren't so thrilled with the cleanup that's necessary but we haven't had any problems at our house.