Winter

Neighbors house across the street.

 As much as I don't like living so far out of town, I love where I live. It's beautiful all the time, and I love my view of the sand dunes.

Backyard and partial view of the Sand Dunes.

 I also love all of the vegetation growing around. My lilac bushes, my big giant tree's in the backyard and some in the front. And.... that's about it.

Liliac bushes in my front yard.

 I'm not a fan of the winter's here. I don't like how long they are and how cold it gets.

Lilac Bushes.

Especially when the wind blows on top of it being below zero. It was worse when I was in school and was out in it so often, but now that I am inside for just about all of it, it's not so bad. Except that being inside all the time get's old. And stifling. Like right now, end of February I am just itching to run outside, let my kids outside, go for a walk, anything outside. There are certain view's that I can't get enough of and open the blinds in every room so I see it wherever I go.

Some more Lilac's.

And frosted mornings are one of them. I have been meaning to go out and take some pictures, but don't always have someone home to watch my girls so I can walk around the yard. One Sunday morning it was frosty and Jaren was home, so I put on a coat, snow boots and grabbed my camera and took a few pictures.

 Giant tree's that I love (when they aren't flying through my windows) in my backyard.  And Naomi's mini trampoline.

 

 Garden decoration I forgot to put away.  There is a blue one, too.  

 "Mama!  What are you doing?  Daddy!  Mama's outside!!"

 

 This is my favorite picture.  I love these trees.  Especially when they are luscious during the summer.

There's A Super Giant Owl In My Tree!

We had heard a story about a woman who lives around here who had a bunch of cats and one by one they went missing.  One night she looked out the window and saw a giant barn owl swoop down and pick up the cat in the yard and fly away with it.

I guess I believed it, but at the same time... I've never seen an owl big enough to carry a full sized cat!

Until now!

Jaren came home a few nights ago telling me about a giant owl that was in the yard when he came home with a huge wing span.  I wanted to see it!

So then, maybe two nights later he comes in and takes me outside and points up to a grain silo and there are two of them!  I wished I had my camera because it was just their silhouettes and it was a sight to see.  They were huge!  Jaren walked toward them making a crazy noise and they flew away and I saw how big they were.  It was awesome.

So yesterday morning he was outside setting up the sprinkler (Dooey) in the yard and I could see him looking at something in the tree.  So I opened the sliding glass door and he said there was an owl in the tree.  I told him I wanted a picture so he came in, grabbed the camera and went out and took these:

See the robin flying up above it?  Jaren thinks the wing span is around 4 feet.

So, then later that day I'm walking around the yard with Naomi and we are under the tree and I look up and wam! There he is again!  Scared me silly!

So what do I do?  Go inside, set Naomi down and grab my camera.

I shoot on Manual so I had my settings set, then extended my telephoto lens and was afraid he'd fly away so I took a bunch of pictures without checking them.  Stupid.  My aperture changed when I extended my lens and underexposed every photo.  So I fixed them in photoshop as best I could.

This next one is my favorite

And then he flew away!  We are going to stop bugging him so he will stay because I'm pretty sure he is eating all the mice that want to make our house their home.  Or maybe he is a she?

This morning I looked for him out my kitchen window and found him/her on a higher up branch just sitting.  I think he's about 7ish feet from a black birds nest and so the black bird kept yipping at him.  I wish he'd eat the black birds - they dive bomb at me every time I go outside.  RRRRg.  And it's 3 hours later and he/she is still there - looks like he's trying to sleep.  I really like having such a giant fascinating pet outside - especially when I can spy on him without him knowing.  :)  I decided we needed to name him.  So his/her name is now Hoots.  Because I do hear him/her hoot quite a bit.