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It's the Blizzard of 2016. Snow started falling about 8:30 p.m. Friday evening.
The snow gauge indicates that we received 11 inches by 9:00 a.m. on Saturday.
And by 1:30 p.m. it was completely invisible, buried under the still falling snow.
It's piling up on the windowsills. And is higher than the bottom of the doors to outside.
I'm concerned about the some of the wild birds that we feed. The little birds that perch, such as titmice, chickadees, nuthatch, winter wrens, downy woodpeckers, even larger birds such as hairy and red bellied woodpeckers manage just fine with the columnar hanging bird feeder. It is the small, ground feeding birds such as juncoes and various sparrows that have me worried. They'll scratch at the snow cover, but there is too deep an accumulation for them to get down to the seed spilled by the birds at the feeder.
I asked Paul if he has some scrap plywood to which he could attach legs. He thought I meant to put seed on the plywood but I explained that no, the plywood would be a roof. He disappeared into the basement. There were some noises. After which he appeared upstairs with this
magnificent flying saucer bird feeder made from two no longer needed trash can lids.
It has three legs which are about as long below the lower lid as they extend above it to support the roof. I shovelled my way out from the kitchen door and just sunk the legs into the snow. Some snow does blow in from the sides but it is shallow enough for the little birds to kick through it to reach the seeds. They were a little hesitant but not for long. I even saw a blue jay in there. The snow is falling heavily enough that it was piling up deeper than the rim. I had to go out once, lift the feeder clear of the snow and rotate slightly before setting it - somewhat higher - again.
Clever, clever Paul. Happy me. And happy birds at the flying saucer feeder.
UPDATE: Sunday, 24 January 2016
By the time the snow stopped yesterday evening we could no longer see the snow gauge. It had become completely buried earlier in the afternoon. So Paul lurched out into the snow with a yardstick.
Indications are that we received just under 23 inches of snow. In about 24 hours.
And this morning, the flying saucer bird feeder looked like this.
Rather resembles a Star War's storm trooper . . . .
ANOTHER UPDATE: Monday, 25 January 2016
With difficulty, Dave managed to plow the driveway today. Just look at the snow spraying off the front wheel. Times they'd spin so much that he had no traction, and would have to carefully back down the driveway to the street then charge up again, getting closer to the top each time. But he made it. After which I went out and threw snow melter on the icy spots along the curve. And Paul used the ATV and its plow, tidying up the edges.
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