In the life we’re living in 2022, it’s a temptation to avoid looking in the review mirror to see what’s the same, as well as what is different from the previous years. I don’t want to be boring and repetitive, but that kind of stuff can happen if I’m not careful. Or if I’m not deliberate to notice new things.
Especially when I look out the window and see that life isn’t that different for me, especially when it comes to the month of January in WI. For example, January 2020 looks a lot like January 2022. A few unexpected things happened back then, right?!
Let’s compare, shall we? (You had to go click that link above to see…so you can compare, or just trust me, dear, the color white is there and so are deer tracks).
Yeah, a blanket of white snow is still prevalent. The skies are different, though. I don’t remember seeing a circle sun dog before? It was cool to see.
This was on Facebook, so it wasn’t just me that took notice of the circle!
By the end of the day, tracks in the yard left by the deer disappear. The wind spins and polishes the surface.
Either some small critter crawled under the snow and made the snow crack as it did, or it was a shift in the snow that did it? It struck the grab the camera chord in me. Of course, it did.
That night, it snowed on top of the polished yard. And the winds swirled throughout the next day. I was mighty thankful that little Copper didn’t have to go out in it. And that Mr. didn’t have to shovel it either. The rabbits don’t seem to mind. They still hop around the yard and deck to entertain the cats.
Causing them enough activity to bring upon midday sun naps.
And, last night, the deer reappeared right before my eyes. These two looked mighty cold. One of them was limping.
They’re hungry. And cold. It’s been bitterly cold so they snack on whatever they can find. Our trees are targets. Again. At least this year we’ll have matching trees on both sides of the house.
The deer have attacked my flower beds in multiple locations. The daisies have been hit hard. I’d actually like to see the deer do their dig for the buried treasures acts while they happen. But I’m usually sound to sleep when they’re busy doing their crimes against our yard.
This week I had a moment where I didn’t have my camera as Mr. and I watched a human walk past our house in that field just past our tree. He appeared out of nowhere (as in I didn’t see him coming out of the woods). He seemed to be on a mission. I’m not accusing him of a crime, but it was weird to see. He was carrying a rifle, was dressed warmly with a black mask on his face, and wearing a dark green parka and winter boots. There is open carry in Wisconsin, but there isn’t open rifle hunting on our land or anywhere near our house. We watched the stranger cross the road and disappear into the trees in the field across from our house. It was odd. With the winds we had that day, his footprints quickly disappeared so we couldn’t see where he did walk. Kind of hard to prove he even existed.
And that windy day brought with it the bitter cold temps.
If it weren’t so darn cold, I think we’d Mr. would venture out to get our trail cam SD card to see what we can see in the photos. Wonder if we’d see the man via a photo of him coming out of the woods? Big Foot?? Those green parkas do have fur around the hoods.
Until then, I’ll leave you with pole teaser photos Mr. did retrieve from the card back in December 2021.
In the month of January, even if we humans don’t go outside due to the cold, it appears the deer party hardy around our bird feeder pole! Just like Wisconsinites will be doing today as they cheer on the Packers – except with the end pole/post and not in our back yard!! Go-Pack-Go!
Speaking of funny pole stories, join me in a smile or a laugh – check out Brian’s photo today. There are some things you just can’t believe until you see them and Brian has the gift of finding them. I smile every time I check out his blog. Same with Yvette’s blog – she has a funny pole picture from 2021 too. Check their blogs out!
Post Inspiration – Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Your prompt for #JusJoJan and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “In the.” Start your post with the words “In the” – that’s the prompt! Enjoy!
PS – Happy almost middle of January 2022. Time flies when you’re having fun, eh? What have you been doing for fun? Any Big Foot sightings in your neck of the woods?
We should set up a wildlife camera in our yard. I think there are all sorts of things scurrying around at night here. I liked your January 2020 and January 2022 pictures. That’s a good idea, to document each year, see what’s changed. I feel the same sense of ‘stuckness’ that I had last January. As if all of 2021 was just marking time trying to get here, and now here we are and we’re still stuck. I’ll get over it, maybe go paint something or bake some bread. That usually lifts my mood!
Yes, set up a trail cam! It is fun to see what lurks in the night. We get some fun photos during the daylight too, especially during the summer.
I bet you have some great photos to compare the years. I agree, 2020-current are just a blur. I don’t feel as stuck this year, I’m hoping that isn’t a sign that I’ve accepted this state of life, that is not what I want to happen.
Baking, painting, taking photos – all good fun! Cheers to mood lifting experiences. xoxo
The deer sure love hanging out around your bird feeders, and they did a big number on your poor tree too! The polished snow looks really pretty.
The cats look so sweet enjoying the warm sunshine, not a care in the world.
I am wondering if Wisconsin has a similar law like Michigan where when you are south of M-46, an east-west road, the rifle can only be used north of M-46 for hunting due to it’s caliber.
I photographed a sun dog here about a month ago, very pretty!
My grandpa taught me that when there’s a ring around the sun, you will have precipitation coming. Stay warm up there, wow!
Yes, the deer enjoy our yard and the neighbor’s yard too. I don’t get how they can’t seem to find food in the woods where they ‘live’? The snow has been pretty to look at. We have a few more months to get through before we’ll see green grass again.
We do have gun laws in our township. I did see on Facebook someone posted that they caught photos of a guy on their trail cam – he was poaching deer on their property. So…maybe that was the same guy? We haven’t seen him since.
Sun dogs are cool. Yes, your grandpa is right, it usually means precipitation coming. I think we did get more snow the next day.
Thanks – you stay warm too!
You have the most interesting property!
Thank you, I’m glad you enjoy it.
We’ve had snow, ice and cold, and it’s going to get colder for a few days, but no Bigfoot, and no deer. I like the pictures from the trail cam. The guy walking through the field would creep me out a bit. I hope it’s nothing more than someone illegal hunting who got lost.
Stay warm!
The weather has not been friendly for anyone lately. I hope you’re warm and safe. Good thing no Bigfoot either!
The guy may have been a deer poacher that I read about in the neighboring community that got hit by the big wind storm. Someone caught photos of him on their trail cam. We haven’t seen him again, so that’s a blessing.
Same to you – stay warm & dry!
There are no Bigfoot sightings in Appleton! I did watch a flock of geese fly overhead a few days ago and wondered why they were still here (open water?). Maybe they are the late group traveling from northernmost Canada. I’d be in Mexico by now if I could fly. 😉
Hunker down and stay warm, Shelley!
LOL – no more Bigfoot sightings here either. We think he may have been caught by another person’s trail cam.
We’ve had the geese here too – they do find open water under the bridges by the dams so they stick around.
I’d be in Jamaica if I could fly too!
Stay warm and happy dreaming of the summer bike trails! xoxo
The first thing I thought of when you said compare the posts was the Copper poop spot 😂 I wonder are they the same Deer or are there lots of Deer in the neighbourhood? Seeing some dude with a gun would creep me out as well. No Bigfoot sightings here. In Australia we have Yowies and I didn’t see any of those either.
Thanks for the mention 🤗💕
Love the snowy scenes. Stay warm Shelley 🙂 🙂
You know, I had a hunch you’d remember the poop spot!! LOL I’m sure Copper is smiling knowing you made the connection!
There is a herd of about 10 that come and go in our yard. There are other deer that travel through the community though.
It was strange seeing the armed dude. Hopefully it was just a one-time thing. I don’t know about Yowies…I’ll have to Google it to find out.
You’re welcome for the mention – thanks for your blogging friendship!
Stay cool since it’s warm where you are! 😉🤗😁
Yep 33C today 🥵
🔥🥵♨🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 Yikes! I’ll send snow to cool you off!
😀👍
Your photos are wonderful and informative. We get herds of deer in our front yard but rarely see them in the back yard that is a wooded ravine. We used to see hunters around but not lately. This town is expanding, becoming more civilized so the hunters stay away which suits me fine.
Thank you, Ally. I found your most recent post very informative. Who knew a dollop would be so fun to write about?!
Wonder why you don’t see the deer in the woods? Interesting.
We live in a no gun zone, but it doesn’t stop the hunters apparently. We do have bow hunters though. They don’t make as much noise in the woods and they can’t run and hide carrying all that equipment. The deer outsmart them often.
Oh, brrrr! I don’t think I’d go out either. I forget if I heard how your Packers did this weekend. I haven’t been keeping up with much football these days. Too much to do. My boys are back in school this week, thank goodness. I just hope they’re not back home for one reason or another soon. We had a good snow (for us) of about 8 inches, and then another dusting. There are still some patches on the ground. The dog loved the snow!
Hi Rebecca, great to hear from you!
Yes, it’s chilly. STILL! I did venture out to the mailbox a couple times. Other than that, I’ve been close to the fire in the fireplace.
YAY for the boys being back in school. I hope they get to stay there too!
Wow – 8 inches, that’s a good amount in one storm. I bet your pup was mighty playful. Ah, the joys of puppyhood!
The Packers lost…but we think they’ll revive themselves next game! (Fingers crossed!) Stay warm and keep smiling and get lots done while the boys are in school. Happy novel writing time to you!
You’re right about the snow drifts and swirls – they do look the same as they did two years ago … nothing changes in that regard. In the photos from the post from 2020, did Mr. make the curling cats on the wine glass? I know he got the 3D printer and was making some fun stuff for you. No Jack Frost on the window … just the snow and the critters. I hope the armed stranger did not wound the limping deer and I would be nervous about the stranger too. Maybe when we/Mr. retrieves the trail cam card it will give you some insight. We have only had two inches of snow in January so far – supposed to be more like 14 inches, which is fine with me and we are dodging the big snowstorm hitting parts of the Midwest and beyond, but we’re going to zero tonight windchill and 10 degrees overnight. Time to take the buggy for a drive me thinks. Your trail camera shots are interesting – was that a crow or raven first, then all the tree-munching deer with their deer-in-the-headlights looks. 🙂
Snow is snow, no doubt about that!
Thanks for remembering the 3D printer – he did not make those, but that’s a GREAT idea, I need to tell him to look around for prints he can use to make some. I bought those at our local winery for fun.
I sure hope the stranger doesn’t reappear. We think maybe the deer was limping because it was SO cold that night? We haven’t seen him since. The other way they hurt their legs is running on the ice on the roads.
We didn’t see anything about the stranger on the trail cam. But someone in the neighboring town captured a deer poacher on theirs. Maybe he was the same guy?
It’s mighty cold again – we’ll have to wait until February to take a walk outside again I fear.
Yes, that’s a crow, I think. They’re here year round. I agree, the deer eyes are funny at night. 👀🙄👁🗨😜
Yes, have Mr. make some for your next holiday get-together, tailored for each family member. (If that’s doable.) They looked like some of the figures you showed us in your posts. That is odd about the stranger – glad he didn’t appear again and that sounds possible it was a deer poacher. Thought it was a crow – some of them are huge and they are loud enough to be bigger than they are in real life! Their eyes glow in the dark. 🙂
He said he’d look into making some. He doesn’t use a flexible print material, so it might be hard to do.
The crows own the fields around here. They chase the eagles and hawks and stalk bird feeders. I’ve never seen them at night though. Hmm..
Those crows are pretty fearless chasing the eagles and hawks … they figure they are too big to be prey, but I saw a video last week about an eagle getting a seagull and carried it off whole.
Yes, they are. We’ve had either an eagle or an owl attack a pigeon on the front roof of our house. I wrote about that a long time ago.
I hoped the hawks migrate in Winter, but no such luck. I was talking to a walker on Thursday and she asked me if I saw the big hawk when I started on the trail – nope I didn’t and there was a dead duck in the Park the day before, but not ravaged. I think it may have died of natural causes or the cold. The next day a pile of white down feathers and the body was gone … maybe a turkey vulture, but hawks eat carrion too.
PS
thanks for linking my blog – I almost missed it and glad I kept reading to see it and to see your mention of BB’s fun pole image (lmao)
You’re welcome – sorry for the delay in responding. Your comment went to my spam folder. 🙁
not sure if my first comment made it for this post – but loved the wintry mood you gave is with words and pics – had a Robert frost vibe!
and please let us know if you find out ore about big foot when you check the SD card
I’ve rescued you three times from my spam folder now. Sigh. Thank you – I’m glad you enjoyed the post. We did get the SD card and only saw deer and birds and wind. The bigfoot will remain a mystery I guess.