Baby, It's Cold Outside!

We have had our share of cold days lately.  The birds have really been feasting on our suet and we've noticed that they prefer the homemade kind over commercial.  (Very wise birds!)  They finished the last of it and so we decided to make some suet cupcakes.  Hopefully these will get them through the rest of the winter.  We used a mixture of lard, shortening and crunchy peanut butter to which we added raisins, sugar, cornmeal, oatmeal with fruit bits and various seeds. 

The finished cupcake.

Next we bundled up and headed outdoors for our nature walk.  The sun was bright and there was a slight breeze on this chilly day.  We heard the calls of several different birds, the blackbird's being the most noticeable.  We also thought we heard the sound of frogs chirping as we explored the wooded fence line of the property and Madison spotted a cottontail rabbit. 

Today's challenge:  begin a nature collection.  Not everything under our feet was frozen and crunchy;  I was able to gather some soft green moss.  Jake chose a spiky brown burr and Madison brought back a heart shaped leaf.  We consulted our field guide and discovered that Jake's burr fell from the Sweetgum tree.  These have beautifully colored leaves in fall and the bark is gray and deeply furrowed.  As for Maddie's leaf, the vein pattern and shape was typical of a Redbud.  What treasures will we find next?

On our way back to the house we noticed that the daffodil bulbs are beginning to peek up through the ground.  Spring is just around the corner.

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

                                                                 ~ Lao Tzu