Appalachian Winter

As is usual Winter arrived at DonDiego's Tomato Ranch [DDTR] shortly before Christmas. But as evidenced by this photo of DonDiego's mailman, there was no snow for Rudolph.

Mr. Mailman says: "The Children Love It !"

But, as the Ides of January passed there were ominous signs, . . . foreboding, . . . and stillness.


And soon thereafter ill-weather arrived in poor old DonDiego's backyard, . . . rather emphatically.





teechur's and DonDiego's home was buried; by evening their ridgeline village became a quiet place.



The reader, . . . well, most readers, . . . hey, at least some readers will be happy to learn that teechur and DonDiego survived.

And DonDiego notes that Springtime is less than two months away; all will be well in Appalachia.



[All photos in this post were taken on teechur's and DonDiego's homestead; Life is Good.]

Great photos & reports,please never stop.

I love the snow photos especially the one of the Northern Cardinal. Thank you for posting.

DonDiegos mail man reminds Blade of Chevy Chase's mail man in the movie "Funny Farm".

In fact Blade thinks it should be renamed: DonDiego's Funny Ranch [DDFR]

Very nice pics. I too love the Robin in the snow. I would live to live in a town that you "know" the mailman.

I could do some tree climbing in that beautiful area.

All of a sudden "Deliverance" started playing over my speakers.

DA-DA, DAH DAH, DAH DAH, DAH DUM-DUM



Rick

"well your in the ol' Musselman place and that's at the end of his route, he's pretty liquored up by then so I'd just say, get used to it" Love that movie.

Absolute beauty pics, the town in particular(not a bird guy), looks like a Kincaid snow village.

J

I think you mean the cardinal.

That is Teechur's bird.

The Birds

__ The birds in the tree silhouetted against the grey sky are Starlings. It’s sorta uncommon to see so many so late, . . . mostly they’re around in Spring and Fall jes’ passin’ through. They are raucous and generally unpleasant, as they travel in large packs; sometimes there’ll be a few hundred a’landin’ together on the lot next door and a’peckin away fer bugs and such.

__ The grey-backed birds with white bellies and beady black eyes are Tufted Titmice. They’re ‘round these parts all year and not as easily spooked as most birds; they’ll grab a seed from the feeder and set a spell in the nearby tree to get at the meat of it, . . . even with folks on the patio nearby awatchin’.

__ The red-bird with the orange beak in the snow is a Northern Cardinal. They hang-around all year. A pair nested in the hedge next to the front door and birthed three babies a few years ago. Why, heckfire, . . . this could be one of the young’uns all growed up.

__ There’s two birds photographed on the snow-clad suet cage. The one on top is a lady Northern Cardinal. Ladies and young’uns don’t display the brilliant red of the males. The smaller bird below is a Downy Woodpecker; males have a small red dot on the back of the head; females don’t. DonDiego cannot tell if the pictured bird has the touch of red or not. These birds hang around all year too.

__ On Robins. Robins don’t abide the cold weather ‘round these parts well; they ain’t heh’ this time o’ year. As in lots of places back East they are typically a sign of Spring; and there’s lots aflyin’ through in the Spring and Fall – stopping by to peck the moist soil fer worms and such.

__ On Birds generally. There’s lots more birds that visit the Tomato Ranch. All the birds digest significant quantities of birdseed at poor old DonDiego’s expense. And they’ll spend a while gettin’ a drink from the birdbath, . . . or even takin’ a bath jes’ asplashin’ about together whether they’s permanent residents or jes’ passin’ through.

Teechur's bird needs to find themselves a quarterback.

Back to DonDiego's birds. Way more interesting.