3-2-1 January 2022

3 things that made you happy in January

One thing that made me happy was seeing a variety of birds at our bird feeders during January. The female and male cardinals make periodic visits. There are multiple pairs which is nice to see.

Saw a purple finch that stood out in the tree.

The pheasants have been running around the front yard and - this morning - even the backyard! They are so big compared to the other birds we regularly see. 

I'm seeing a lot of dark-eyed juncos - a migratory bird from Canada. This is a female - she's more gray than black.

A second thing that made me happy was that Olivia recorded two audition pieces for applying for a music scholarship. She has worked hard on preparing to play these pieces since September. It was a huge relief for her to be able to play, record, and submit these pieces; and to have this part of her scholarship request completed. 

The third thing that made me happy was going a nature hike around our farm with Olivia. We started doing nature studies again to complete some that I had on my list of ones I wanted her to do before she graduates. Here she is walking ahead of me towards the southwest pasture and little forest.

In the little forest, we noticed the bark on these trees was rubbed down in about the same spot. It's not that high off the ground, so we questioned what it would be.

2 things you're looking forward to in February

The first thing I'm looking forward to in February is having a weekend where I don't have to go anywhere! On February 5th-6th, I can stay at home and don't have to go out in the cold. I can get caught up with doing things I've wanted to do - including making a quilt. A couple years ago, I purchased a quilt kit and I'm finally getting around to it. Working on the quilt this weekend will hopefully get me closer to finishing it by the end of the month. 

The second thing I'm looking forward to in February is getting a facial and massage on the last day of the month. I received some gift cards to a local salon for Christmas, and am excited to have 90 minutes to relax and take care of myself.

1 thing from January that you'd rather forget

The extremely cold temperatures during January felt especially brutal this year for some reason. 

There were so many days that the temperature and/or windchill dropped below -15 at night. Sometimes, even during the day, it never got above zero. The frost forms on the doors and windows in the mudroom. It's pretty...yet a good indicator of how cold it is here.