Goldfinches & Tamaracks

The goldfinches have been eating the cones off the tamarack trees like crazy! They must be yummy? All a matter of personal taste, I guess. I thought they looked so pretty with their bright color contrasting with the dark green spills of the tree & the dark brown, almost red cones.

Happy Birthday, Mom!!

I don't know why this photo is rotated...it's driving me crazy trying to fix it, so I'm done. Everyone just tip your head sideways so that you can enjoy it properly!

Like Weeping Willows...

But, they're not!

Looking across the pasture...

Driving up the road...

The ice storm that started last night & has caused lots of flooding, has also caused lots of damage to the trees...power crews are working hard to restore electricity since it is going to get really cold again tonight & people need to heat their homes...we are grateful for our fireplace & to a local store for cooking us supper!

Tree Trimming

You can chalk this up as yet another job that I could never do - leaning out of a bucket, high above the electrical wires, cutting branches off the tops of trees! But, I greatly appreciate the service of the men (and women) that do this job. The past couple of weeks we have seen these trucks all up and down the roads. They are cutting down any branches that overhang the wires, so that during our winter storms the branches won't fall down and disconnect our service. "An ounce of prevention..." I think it's great! On Friday, one of them walked up our driveway and apologized for the fact that they were going to have to take down some of the trees on our lawn that were threatening our wires. I surprised him by saying "Yay!" We've been worried about those trees for the four years that we have lived up here. Now, they are gone and they were kind enough to leave behind a pile of firewood. And they were very careful not to disturb our horse fencing, which I appreciated. He was also concerned that the noisy equipment would bother the horses. I told him not to worry - exposure to loud noises is good for them. It keeps them from getting scared when we encounter equipment in our travels. The horses never even batted an eye at the saws & trucks. They just kept munching on their breakfast...

Carrying Wood

Here is our youngest, demonstrating his favorite method of carrying firewood. At first I thought that he just did that to show off for the camera, but he actually carried them all like that! All the way into the shed and onto the pile. Granted, that meant he could only carry one stick at a time, but at least he was helping. And, having fun while doing it!

Splitting Wood

This past weekend the boys helped Dad with the firewood. Here you can see our oldest running the splitter. He was pushing the handle, which drives the wedge into the log and back out again after the wood splits. Pictures like this amaze me - our little boy is getting so tall!!

Pine Cone Tracks

Here's the answer to yesterday's mystery: a pine cone rolling across the top of the snow. In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that today's photo is staged. Daisy snatched up the original pine cone and ran off with it before I could snap a picture!

Can you see me now?

Our littlest was hiding in the branches...

Isn't it pretty?

We're so lucky to have such beautiful trees right here on our property!

Carrying it home...

Here they come across the front lawn...almost there, guys!

Measuring the tree...

The tree that we cut down was much too tall to fit into our house, so the boys laid down beside it and Dad was able to cut it to size. The extra branches around the base will be used for making wreaths.

Cutting down the tree...

My husband used the chain saw to cut that wedge out of the tree, and then gave the boys a hand saw so that they could finish taking it down. That way, they could say, "We cut down the Christmas Tree this year!" You can't see him, but he was behind them, pushing on the tree, so that there was no chance of it falling on the boys...

December Theme Day: Circles

These circles will keep our house warm this winter!

There are 187 blog participating in this theme day! Click here to view thumbnails for all participants...

Tamarack

I took the dogs for a walk in the woods this morning. Okay, I walked and they ran circles around me! They always love to be out there! Most of the trees lost their leaves during the heavy rain/wind storm that went through Saturday night. There's not much color left in the woods, with one exception. The Tamaracks are a brilliant yellow right now. They are the only evergreen tree in the Northern Forest that loses its spills in the winter, much like a deciduous Maple or Oak. My favorite part about Tamaracks is how soft their spills are - not like the stiff and sharp Pine or Fir spills. I love to run my hands over their branches as I walk by the trees. According to Wikipedia, they are popular as bonsai - maybe I'll go harvest a baby and see how it does in the house...

Anybody have any idea why Blogger keeps rotating this picture????? It's driving me crazy!!

Oak Leaf

Looking North at the Pinnacle

Okay, there was something missing from yesterday's photograph. And I didn't even realize it until I walked out the front door this morning and there it was - sunshine! So, I hobbled my way to the other side of the horse pasture, (The doctor says that some walking is good.) and took some pictures of the side of the Pinnacle. Tomorrow I'll show you what else I discovered out there...

'The hills are alive'...with color!

Here I have zoomed in on the hillside across from our house. This is my favorite time of year to live here because of this patchwork of color! This is the same spot where I photographed the sunrise a few weeks ago...

Reflection

We went paddling on Moose Pond again this Saturday for my son's birthday. I saw this reflection in the water and liked the way the clouds looked...

Another tree hugging kid!

I snapped this photo today because it reminded me of this photo from last spring. However, this time, the kid featured is my nephew, leaning over to see how high the water in the Little Androscoggin River was after the heavy, heavy rains last night. The water level is way up today! And the current is really strong too - it's definitely a rushing river!