Snow Day

We have 15 degree temperatures and just enough snow to make it pretty outside. The wind isn't blowing much so that makes it okay to go outside for a bit. Ivy and I had a little bit of cabin fever so we had an outing, even though the streets were a little icy. We went through the Taco Bell drive-thru for a burrito (and Cinnamon Crisps!) and pulled in the almost empty parking lot of a Michael's to eat. While doing this we watched the crows trying to find food in the grass next to the lot. I felt sorry for the birds so I tore off pieces of my burrito and threw them out the window. The crows were thrilled, so I drove over to McDonald's and got them a Happy Meal! We went back to Michael's and threw the cheeseburger and fries out the window and watched the delighted crows eat their feast.

Then we decided to go to the museum-the only kind of museum that allows dogs. Petland! With Ivy perched in the shopping cart we visited all the different animals in this very big pet store. The rabbits were the biggest hit with Ivy and if I weren't staying at someone else's house we might have come home with one! Petland is a great place to go with your dog. The clerks love animals so you get lots of attention, usually a treat for the dog and the pet gets to see how good they have it at home! They have puppies at this store and there was the cutest little female Old English bulldog I have ever seen!

We bought birdseed and a bar of rabbit food and sprigs of millet, along with treats for Ivy and a new chain collar. When we got home, I spread some birdseed on the ground outside the sliding glass door, as I have seen a lot of ground feeding birds out there. We also put out some water and hung some of the millet sprigs. (The Johnson's already have a hanging bird feeder that is quite popular.) Then I put the rabbit bar out by the compost heap where I have seen some very cute cottontails hopping around in the evenings. Ivy and I proceeded to take our places indoors, she lying at the sliding glass door and me in the recliner with Shelby Foote's Volume 1 book about the Civil War. (I'm on page 98 and there are a total of almost 3,000 pages.) I can see directly out onto the patio from my seat in the recliner. In about thirty minuets, I was amazed to look out and see a hawk, I think it was a Cooper's hawk, sitting on the back of the porch swing, eating the prey he had caught! It was amazing! When he was finished tearing apart the small bird (I hope not one of the ones I had lured there with seed!) he flew away. I've never seen anything like that, so I was very excited. That's when I decided to post this and let you know what I am doing!