What's a 206er doing in 509 country? The adventures of a city gal transplanted to the country with recipes, gardening tips, DIY projects, thoughts about living in harmony with wildlife and observations about rural life in Pend Oreille County.
Since living in a climate with lots of winter snow is a new experience for me, I've probably only built a snowman about twice in my life. My knowledge and skill is very limited but I decided to get out there and enjoy and embrace my inner child so I created a snowman, or more accurately a snow lady.
Snow Lady with apple eyes
The snow didn't pack very well so she is a little blob shaped. I didn't have any buttons or coal for eyes, so I used yellow apple halves which made her look a little like a space alien
I built up the base of her body to support an old wood shelf I scavenged from our wood scraps which created a tray for her to offer her gifts to our wildlife neighbors.
Snow lady with gifts for the wildlife
I added some sunflower seeds, peanuts and apple slices to the tray and set up one of our PIR motion-activated trail cams on a tripod to see who would visit our snow lady.
Bushnell trail camera mounted on a tripod
We have used this trail cam for several years to have all sorts of fun. There have been several surprises when a camera has captured images of a wildlife species that we had never seen or known were wandering so near. Last fall we used our trail camera to identify who was eating our pumpkins. (That story is posted on one of my other blogs, The Adventures of Border Collies in the Burbs )
During the night it continued to snow and when I looked at my snow lady the next morning, obviously her eyes and nose were missing along with most of the items on her tray.
A snow lady missing some features
Time to pull the chip to see who had paid her a visit. The camera can either be set-up to record still shots or videos and on this particular day we had set it up to take photos and here is one that clearly shows who ate one of her eyes,
A deer captured on a trail camera
Later that day I repaired her face and set out her tray with more goodies for the wildlife.
A snow lady for the wildlife
This time we set up the camera to take videos. It was only about two hours later that the camera captured these visitors.
We enjoyed sharing goodies during the holiday season with our wildlife neighbors. Do you enjoy watching wildlife in your neighborhood?
Oh how I so enjoyed this article and your photos. We have a lot of urban deer in our community but unfortunately the city has made it a crime to feed any wildlife. Oh well. I can still enjoy yours :) Country living is so much fun.
Thanks for visiting and leaving your comment. Yes it is still ok to feed the wildlife here although we only put out small amounts of things that might attract deer once in awhile since it is best for them to find their own natural sources of food and not become dependent upon humans.
I LOVE your snow lady! What a wonderful article, and the photos! Thoroughly enjoyed all of the ones that loaded (two did not, though I waited until the spinning "load" wheel stopped). I look forward to seeing more from you. Following.
How fun! I don't know that I'd be able to enjoy that much snow though. It's pretty, but I don't like being so cold! Thanks for sharing on the Homestead Blog Hop!
Oh how fun! We have put out trail cams too, two of them actually, that my husband got for Christmas. I LOVE your idea of a "snow lady", so fun! We put out some corn by the trail cams, and got several nice pictures of deer and a buck too. However, the turkeys found the corn, and now they eat it all up. The turkeys have taken to roosting in our trees, and when they see me come out in the yard, they follow me! So now we have stopped feeding the "deer", because actually we are feeding the turkeys instead, and they have become a bit of a nuisance, sadly!
Thank you! We've had a lot of fun with the trail cams. We had no idea of all of the critters that wander around here! We have a few turkeys who come occasionally to visit, but I think they prefer to hang out with some of our neighbors who have cattle or horses.
Oh how I so enjoyed this article and your photos. We have a lot of urban deer in our community but unfortunately the city has made it a crime to feed any wildlife. Oh well. I can still enjoy yours :) Country living is so much fun.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting and leaving your comment. Yes it is still ok to feed the wildlife here although we only put out small amounts of things that might attract deer once in awhile since it is best for them to find their own natural sources of food and not become dependent upon humans.
DeleteI LOVE your snow lady! What a wonderful article, and the photos! Thoroughly enjoyed all of the ones that loaded (two did not, though I waited until the spinning "load" wheel stopped). I look forward to seeing more from you. Following.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteHow fun! I don't know that I'd be able to enjoy that much snow though. It's pretty, but I don't like being so cold! Thanks for sharing on the Homestead Blog Hop!
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting!
DeleteOh how fun! We have put out trail cams too, two of them actually, that my husband got for Christmas. I LOVE your idea of a "snow lady", so fun! We put out some corn by the trail cams, and got several nice pictures of deer and a buck too. However, the turkeys found the corn, and now they eat it all up. The turkeys have taken to roosting in our trees, and when they see me come out in the yard, they follow me! So now we have stopped feeding the "deer", because actually we are feeding the turkeys instead, and they have become a bit of a nuisance, sadly!
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed your snow lady adventures!
Thank you! We've had a lot of fun with the trail cams. We had no idea of all of the critters that wander around here! We have a few turkeys who come occasionally to visit, but I think they prefer to hang out with some of our neighbors who have cattle or horses.
Delete