Spring in January

(Back by popular demand!)

Can’t believe it is still January.  It is so warm and sunny.  Today Brent took the day off from riding, so we got to spend some good quality time together. We took the dogs to the Arboretum.  It felt like late March – it was so nice.

This week I noticed that our neighbor’s tulip tree is in full bloom, and was hoping that they would be blooming at the Arboretum as well.  Two years ago in March, we were walking the pugs at the Arboretum and came up on a group of tulip trees in full bloom. The sun was setting behind the trees and I swear it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

As you can see, the trees are already starting to bloom.  I will need to start going every day so I don’t miss it!

New Girl  growled at every dog that came near her and was so terrified of the water.  She thought Brent was trying to drown her in the lake and panicked.  A group of people stopped to pet Milly, who is always lagging behind.  As they walked on down towards the lake, she picked up the pace and fell right in with the group.  Brent and I both called to her to come and she cut her eyes over at me and just kept walking with the others.  I had to go pick her up. She only makes it about the first 10 minutes…after that she has to be carried.

Back home I noticed that we have lots of blooms on our camelia bushes.  I think plants that produce such beautiful blooms in the winter are a fantastic idea.  They are one of my favorite things about our house (including the azaleas!).

All the photos on this post were taken with my new iPhone, which is, hands-down the best material gift that anyone has ever given me (thanks, Brent!).  The DSLR is obviously a close second.

I am planning to go back and fill in the gap from November to January, so keep checking!

February Snow

Winter is flying by!  Can’t believe March will be here in about two weeks!  This has to be the snowiest winter I can remember.  Snow on Christmas, and then a pretty good ice storm, then 1 – 2 inches last week.  Although it didn’t lay on the road, it was so pretty and so fun to wake up to a blanket of snow on the ground!  And of course having snow on the ground is just another excuse to indulge my nerdy side that like to photograph weeds, twigs, and leaves.  Enjoy, Kourtney!

And below is a picture of a totally nasty & creepy bird that is living in our backyard. It gives me the heebie-jeebies and makes me a little nauseous, to be honest.  I HATE IT!  I thought it was an owl (disgusting!), but I posted the pictures on Facebook and was told that it was a chicken hawk by the Tennessee folk. I think a hawk is better than an owl, but it is still totally gross! Ugh…..it makes me sick. I look at this picture and think that it is looking into my soul…..I think it might have put a spell on me because I keep thinking about it…..so scary!  I mean, have you ever seen a bird that creepy?!?!  I’m not even going to blow the photo up on the blog…you’ll have to do that yourself.  But don’t say I didn’t warn you.

One chicken hawk. Free to a good home!  Or a bad home!  I don’t care!!