How do they stand it???

These are both pictures from this winter...the top one is from the first real snow right after Christmas.
And the one below is from yesterday. Every time I see the animals out in this weather I wonder how they survive. At least the cows don't have to hunt for food...I can just imagine the hard time the wild animals have when the weather is so bad and everything is frozen solid.
The birds and the squirrels are eating me out of house and home. I would love to know of a way to discourage the starlings. They just seem to take over. The juncos and the sparrows get plenty that is dropped to the ground but the cardinals keep a bit more distance.

And I am assuming it is Mama Squirrel's last litter that comes with her. Two of them are definitely this years young...the other I am not so sure about but I think it is hers because it will come and get on the picnic table while I am putting food out for them; it knows my voice. It just isn't quite brave enough to take from my hand though I think it considers it.

We were getting flurries just a few minutes ago when I let Shelby out and in. I don't think more snow is in the forecast, but the forecast has been wrong before.

We have snow!!!!

We have snow!!!! And it is still snowing as I type this. It started after midnight last night....I seen a few little flakes sometime before I went to bed. I am not saying what time I got up, but we had about 2-3 inches then. As I was laying there awake, I was thinking how rich we really are. We never go hungry, never really suffer with cold or heat; we are blessed more than we will probably ever really know.

We messed around here a little while and Roger asked me a couple times if I wanted to go for a drive. Well, I wanted to, but I didn't. I dreaded getting out in the cold...however, we filled up the gas tank, and headed north...but only for a mile or two, then across the highway and into the country. It was snowing and blowing...if not for a line of trees, there was no definition between the sky and the land.
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I cannot seem to settle down to blogging steadily. I seem to jump from one thing to another, or one thought to another. I keep thinking I will get back in the groove, but I get sidetracked by things and thoughts. I turned off the comment moderation on this blog the other day, but left the word verification and the first thing I got a spam comment. I would love to know how they choose their victims. Do they actually get business from it?
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I went to Sarah's yesterday and we did a few errands. Loralei was in high form. She could out yell me any time. She now has three teeth that we can see...it is so hard to catch her still enough to actually see.

I got an email from Sarah today...Loralei is officially climbing now. She is always going over to their elliptical machine...Jeremy was distracted by a phone call and in just minute she was up on it. And beating on the upright part. Can you believe that next month she will be one year old? I cannot imagine life before her now.