Our 3rd "Snowstorm" This Winter! + Critters

Winters have been ‘so tough’ for us since we retired and moved from Chicago down here to East Tennessee.  This winter has been exceptional…with perhaps a grand total of 1 inch of snow on the ground all winter…if you measured it as it fell!

 

For about 5 minutes, it was really coming down!!

 

 

Visibility was minimized and it really looked like winter was finally here…and it was March 3^rd!

 

 

The view from the front porch was equally daunting… The snow was sort of covering the grass and almost sticking to the driveway!

 

 

It was 29 degrees with little or no wind…and other than this little ‘burst’ of snow, most of this morning’s action consisted of widely spaced flurries floating gently to earth…

 

 

Laurie took this picture as well as the following couple of photos when she went out to retrieve the Sunday Newspaper.  Just a few flurries in the air…  

 

 

Her Quince bush has never stopped blooming all this winter!  It was rather attractive against that little bit of white stuff…

 

 

This is our mossy side yard… Grass doesn’t grow well in this shaded area given the proximity to the forest so we protect and nurture the moss.  As you can see, the snow couldn’t quite cover the green…and by 11 AM all signs of our ‘third snow storm’ of the winter of 2012 – 2013, had disappeared!

We sure don’t miss those Chicago winters!!

Now for a few critters…visitors to our yard within the last couple of days…

 

First there were the turkeys…a whole flock of them.  Laurie photographed these 2 in the planted area under the hickory trees beside our driveway.

 

 

Then they invaded our front yard.  The flock was spread out across the yard, down the middle of the street and along the other side of the road as well…

 

 

This photo is a bit fuzzy as it was zoomed in on from the front of our house.  The big bird in the middle was Tom Turkey himself!  He had 15 or 16 of his ladies with him…

Question: What is the proper name for a ‘flock’ of turkeys?  They are called a ‘rafter’ or sometimes a ‘gang’.  A colloquial but unofficial term is a ‘gobble’.

 

This morning after our ‘snow storm’, Laurie photographed this Broad-winged Hawk sitting in a tree at the side of the house.  Broad-winged Hawks are best known for their spectacular migrations...thousands of birds flying by with single flocks numbering up to several hundred!  Hawks are frequent visitors at our house…as are deer, singly and in small herds…as well as raccoons, opossums and skunks.  Life is good in the woods of East Tennessee!

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave