Snow

 January 2024 will be a memorable month for the Des Moines area.  We had roughly 27 inches of snow in the month...about 18 inches more than normal.  And most of it fell with about a 3-day span (Jan 8-11).

January 8 was nearly a foot of snow and then we got an actual blizzard starting on January 11.  Below are some images of those events and you know I had to make trails for Kyanne.  Yes, part of it is fun to do but with actual temps below zero, it was necessary.  If it wasn't enough to have the snow, the gut punch were the temps and wind chills.

ROUND ONE

I always think of this Frank Miller print Mom framed for me...

ROUND TWO

And here's how it looked for a coyote and deer...

Check the temp on the image below.  Looks pretty peaceful...

Snow and a rabbit rescue

So we had snow overnight. 

 

Birds like this Northern Flicker were dealing with the elements...

 

I didn't get any pictures on my trail camera due to the snow.  We haven't seen mama since Wednesday and going into today, we weren't sure we still have kits (bunnies) and how many.  They are probably big enough to survive but we're not sure.

Here is my camera this morning...



Here is the hutch after the overnight snow...

 

Time to sweep for Russ and me and clear a little for the bunnies?

 

 

Look closely at these next two pictures.  Look under the deck and all the way back and see if you see eyes lighting up from the camera.  Signs of life...

 

So I've been looking for signs of our bunnies and I've been checking our very deep window well because I have pulled a bunny out last year and certainly voles, toads and frogs find their way down there.  Lo and behold this afternoon I found two scared kits down in the well. 

 

 

I came out with my trusty Folgers coffee "can" and quickly realized they had grown a bit so I went back inside for a plastic tub to get them out.  As you can expect they wanted nothing to do with me but got them in one at a time and dumped them out on the ground.  They both scampered under the deck.

 

Remember the picture above.  I believe we see eyes under the deck while there are two bunnies in the "hole".  So I have to think we have more than two left and possibly all four.

 

So look at this picture.  I'm going up the stairs and you can clearly see two eyes under the deck...

 

 

With a successful rescue, I put my camera back out and got these images shortly after...

 

 

Turned out to be an encouraging day.



Spring snow today

Northern and eastern Iowa got more than we did but it fell steadily and made a pretty and sometimes interesting picture outside.

 Kind of melting but not...

 

The branch above became the hanging shape below...

 

 

Wanting to drip...