My Favorite Photos - January 2020

During January, there were some special occasions we celebrated, the trail cam captured more images of wildlife, and we enjoyed ordinary days. Below are some photos from January.

We went out on January 1st to celebrate New Year's Day as we normally do. We went to the Chinese buffet that we have gone to in the past. 

We had mixed reactions. We like going here because of tradition. However, after going to some restaurants to celebrate the girls' adoption days in  November and tasting some very well-prepared Asian food (Chinese and Japanese), our meal felt a bit too "American buffet like" and less like authentically-prepared Chinese food. Regardless, we still enjoyed spending time together.

A few days later, one of Sophia's friends from college flew back to Minnesota from being in California. After picking her up at the airport, we went to a Hawaiian poke restaurant and had a delicious meal with bubble tea.

On Sunday, January 5th, we went to see a huge snow sculpture. This is in someone's front yard! They create a different sea-theme snow sculpture each year and raise money for clean water in Africa. This year they raised over $62,000! It doesn't cost anything to visit the snow sculpture. This is money they collect from people wanting to make a donation.

One afternoon, I saw a flock of wild turkeys in the cornfield near us.

I love how three of the dogs rest in the bathroom with me when I take a bath. The floor is heated (which may be a factor why they like to be in there). They each have their own rug or towel when they lay down.

I moved the trail cam to different parts of the property. One night, there were two deer that walked by the trail cam.

This is the second one. She must have heard something behind her. There wasn't another deer - so perhaps she heard the horses in the barn.

One day we were having a snowstorm. Who should be out, but Hoss (the miniature horse) who was having a run time galloping through the pasture. I think he knows where the camera is because there are an awful lot of photos of him.

We celebrated Olivia's 17th birthday. She had hoped to get her ears pierced, but - after driving 50 minutes to the tattoo parlor (which also does piercings) - we found out they needed a birth certificate since she was a minor. Since they are regulated by the state, we needed to prove she was who she was and that we were, in fact, her parents.

She wanted to eat at Burger King for lunch, so we did that. We wanted to do something special since there was a big snowstorm that day and it was limiting what we could do.

Olivia asked for a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting for her 17th birthday. Her birthday banner is hanging in the background by the woodstove.

She blew out all the candles.

We ate at college with Sophia with a couple of times in January. There's a stir-fry section in the dining center which you can never go wrong with.

The snow lingered on the trees because of the cold weather and no wind.

The crabapple tree still has some fruit on it for the birds who will be migrating back to Minnesota next month.

Hard to believe, but in a few months the birds will be looking for birdhouses and places to nest.

 On January 25th, Olivia and I taught 4-Hers how to make suet bird feeders. The warm suet/birdseed mixture was poured into cupcake holders and had little yarn holders so they can be hung from trees.

Olivia and I taught an iris folding class after that to some of the 4-Hers at the winter workshop day. This is my example of iris folding. It's a simple pattern.

Olivia did a more complex one with more papers. I helped her cut out the design and the tiny part that marks the division between the body and tail broke off. Of course, I put the tape on the wrong side of the project. (You work from the backside of the paper to create the design.)

Olivia took a cupcake decorating class after that.

When we got home, an eagle was in one of the trees next to our driveway. The St. Croix River Association was having a Bald Eagle Count that day which we were participating in. We didn't see any other bald eagles - except this one right at our home!

It didn't stay too long. When we came back out of the house to get some photos, it flew off. It's hard to see, but its gold talons are right under its tail.

We went back to the tattoo shop a week later - in the afternoon of the 25th - to get the girls' ears pierced. Olivia had hers pierced when she was much younger. She went to Claire's where they use the ear-piercing gun. The back of her earrings ended up getting covered with skin and they had to be surgically removed. She debated if she ever wanted her ears pierced again after that. She did some research and found out that piercings are done differently at tattoo places and she wanted to get it done that way instead.

Ended up that the holes from the previous piercing was already there, so they just had to be re-opened. Much easier.

Sophia had a second piercing done in each of her ears. She actually had to have them pierced so it was interesting to watch the difference in procedure from using an ear-piercing gun.

Afterwards, we went to a new Chinese restaurant in the University of Minnesota area to celebrate Chinese New Year. We enjoyed the meal and had plenty of leftovers!

The next day, our friend the eagle came back. We were able to capture one photo of it before it flew off. It flew across the cornfield and towards the trees where at least a dozen crows started mobbing it. They did not want the eagle around their trees and territory.

The flowers from some of our flowering bushes stay on during the winter. They turn a tannish color (from being white with a hint of pink during the summer).

The suet feeders are on the tree. The birds - and squirrels - love them. The chickadees and smaller birds sit right on the feeder. The larger birds, like cardinals, sit on a branch and eat from there. The squirrels...well, they do everything possible to eat and take down the suet feeders.

All is not lost if the feeders end up on the ground.

The cardinals will quickly eat up the suet.

I placed the trail cam in some new locations. This time I placed it near the ground and got a lot of squirrel photos. This one makes me smile, with the squirrel looking like it is hopping over something. No...it's just the way they run.

Scooby celebrated his 13th birthday on the 13th. He picked out one special flavor of food for the dogs to share. Danny is practicing his pointing so he can pick out a flavor of food on his birthday.

The girls and I went to the salon on Friday, the 31st. They had their eyebrows waxed and I had a massage (a gift from Christmas). It was a special treat before we were coordinating a major service event the following day.

On the evening of the final day of January, Sophia was home and the pets were excited to see her. Here she is with five out of the seven indoor pets. All the dogs are in the photo. We're just missing two cats.