winter again

The cardinals, titmice, and chickadees are busy at the teacup, that is until the squirrel comes around for her daily fattening up. I'm having to fill it twice a day sometimes so that there is enough for the birds. I tend to let the little girl squirrels feed but run off the little boys. I figure the little girls might be pregnant and need the extra food. The little boys can go forage elsewhere.

After a few warm days (I saw red bud trees putting out blooms on New Year's Eve), we are back to winter. A strong north wind blew all day yesterday and the temperature plunged into the low 30s last night. I chose not to bring in all the tropicals, instead covering them with a big plastic tarp where they are all huddled against the south side of the house. As long as we are just getting quick dips down, they should be fine out there.

The puppy and the cat don't care for this cold weather but then, neither do I. Minnie occupies laps while Emma has taken over the puppy's bed.

This year the heater has been rattling loudly when it comes on and I was thinking I needed to call the central air company and have them find out what the problem was. They had already been out for our annual winter check up and said we were good to go. Then, last week, while it was still warm and we were not using the heater, we called the propane company out to fill our nearly empty tank. New owner of the company and they sent a guy out first to check for leaks before they sent the truck out and he detected a leak and located it in the attic, an old valve that should have been replaced when we got the new central air unit 3 or 4 years ago, had come loose. He tightened it, they filled the tank and we are good to go. Turned the heater on yesterday and...no noisy rattling. I don't know what that guy did up there Friday, but he solved both our problems. Still need to call the plumber out though and get the valve replaced.

I'm having one of those days when I don't feel like doing anything and feeling guilty for not taking advantage of this day to do any of the many things that need to be done around here, especially knowing that we will be very busy soon for 2 – 2 1/2 months working on the small animal hospital job. We received a tax form right before christmas that is required by the customer in order to fund the project and sent it in last week. I keep having to remind myself that unproductive days are not wasted time.

And so to that end, I am going to not waste time by sitting on the couch with my book for the rest of the day.

edit: I decided to take a little foray outside before settling down. It's actually not too bad out there as long as you are in the sun and out of the wind. Even Big Mama is out sunning herself. I still don't feel like doing anything though.