Still More Winter Visitors

White-breasted Nuthatch


We also get deer at the feeders - there are three little ones who were probably born this year. They have short round faces, with short rounded ears. They are pretty shaggy with their winter coats.

They also get a lot of burrs on their bottoms, which just cracks me up.

And if you tap on the window, they look at you.

More Winter Visitors

Grey Squirrel

Male Cardinal

Downy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

Turkey

Downy Woodpecker

More Turkeys (I'm a little smitten by the turkeys)

Things to do in Minnesota in the winter

Snow Art!! One of my co-workers made this creepy snow angel by face planting in the snow. I took it with my camera phone, so it's not great quality... Click on the photos to make them bigger....

Winter Guests: Eagles

Bald Eagle hanging out in the tree in our parking lot at work.

Then it got irritated at me, and left.

Winter Guests: Turkeys

At my new job,we are on the edge of the woods, and there's a fair amount of wildlife. We feed the migratory songbirds, but lately we've been a sucker for the turkeys, deer, and squirrels. We rationalize this because there is a good solid 2-3 inches of ice on the ground. Hard for little turkeys to scratch through. Also, the turkeys have realized that we are a source of food, and aren't going to hurt them. Although they are a little skittish, they still get fairly close. They're kind of like big chickens.

Things to do in Minnesota in the Winter

It's winter, and I pretty much just want to do this all the time:

Whiskey, 11 weeks or so....

With all the cold and early darkness, I pretty much go into hibernation mode. But last winter, B and I decided we needed a hobby (other than sleeping and drinking beer), so we took up skate skiing. If you ever get into cross country skiing, Minnesota is the place to go. In the winter, every local park, golf course, state park, etc is groomed for cross country skiing. I've never lived in a place with so many ski options. There are downhill places, too, but growing up in Utah, it would seem like sacrilege. We've been going to Theodore Worth State Park, which is a bit of a drive (40 minutes) but is beautiful - great groomed track, rolling oak savannah and prairie, and not that many people. We have several friends who are game, and we've been going out every weekend when the weather is good:

We also instituted time trials around the fire ring - five times around, and whoever does it the fastest, wins. Did I say there aren't very many people here? This is a good thing, in light of our time trials.

It's a lot of fun, even though we are learning and our form isn't great. In fact, imagine the photo below with skis, and that's what we look like. But it makes you excited when it snows, and you can be outside without freezing.

Things to do in Minnesota in the Winter

This is a new series, in response to the question, "what do you do in the Winter in Minnesota?"


Here's something Minnesotans LOVE to do during the winter.

Wash their cars!

I think most people who live in areas where there is snow like to wash their cars. With all the salt and grud on the roads, everyone's car turns a scaley grey. And I have never lived in a place that had so many "touchless carwashes" - ie: you don't get out of your car - you just drive through. The problem, in Minnesota, is that for most of the winter, you CAN'T wash your car, because you would freeze the doors shut, and have to live in the car for several months. Most car washes aren't open once the temp dips below a certain level, in order to save us from ourselves. But if we get a balmy day, say, in the mid 20's, you can be sure that everyone is rushing out to the local car wash. It's akin to the Tickle Me Elmo going on sale. And weekends are the worst, because it's usually too cold after work to wash cars, so the rare warm weekend is the only time. Apparently, everyone else had this idea too last saturday...

Line of cars waiting to get into the car wash. The sun was in the process of setting, so it was a race against time...



Ah, sweet sweet suds. My car is clean, for a few days, at least.