Still moist.
The water is stil going.
Looking back at photographs from last year I can see why we did not have this issue then, though there were colder nights. The pumphouse was covered in snow.
Now, it’s bare and exposed. I need to get the damned old well pump out and the tank, then I’ll have a relaticely clean and large area where I can get to the incoming waterline to heat and insulate it properly. I think the little room it encloses (About 4x4x6′) will be a good storage area as well, possibly for root vegetables. Suppose this also means it’s about time to think hard about doing some plumbing upgrades in the basement as well. Going to be a busy spring.
We have a pair of bluejays that have nested in the big oak in the front. I am pleased to see them, and hear the rhubarb they create.
They alone don’t seem to fear the squirrels, and in fact will dive on them. I hope to get more feeders this summer and maybe get some hummingbirds too.
Put straw or hay bales around the pump. That can really help. The little ones, not those thousand pound things
Bluejays are fearless — in the past we’ve seen them go into ninja mode on our cats. Some of those cats were big boys, too. However, I can testify this is a sport for only the fastest little blue ninjas. Most of them seem to be up tot he task.
Hope your plumbing problems are soon solved. The last gasps of winter seem to be especially cruel this time around. I’m pretty sick of it and I’m sure the rest of you are as well, unless there’s skiers amongst you. No thanks.
All the baseball players have migrated to their springtime home or are even now reporting, so there’s a sign of betterment right there.
Jenny
I live near Puget Sound, around here the commonest hummers are Anna’s Hummingbirds, the smallest bird in N. America usually weighing about five grams, what a nickel or dimmwitocrat brain weighs. They have already nested, are draining my feeders in three days and chasing the juncoes and chicadees.
Pretty lil’ guys, too bright green with a glowing magenta throat and breast patch. In the sun they look like they have electric lighting.
I love hummingbirds. And they”re VICIOUS! SO gorgeous.
Hummingbirds are nature’s reminder that dynamite comes in small packages. If they were any bigger they’d rule the world.
Jenny
Better keep that sugarwater going, just in case.
I have a sister-in-law (aka the Angel that Walks On Earth) who has a hummingbird feeder and loves the little tykes. One year I was looking for a Christmas present for her and started looking for something hummingbird related, like a Christmas ornament. Which is when I learned that there’s a variety of, er, adult toy called a hummingbird, designed to stimulate particular parts of the female anatomy. Thank God I didn’t do that particular google search at work.
Now before you suggest that I should have bought that for my SIL, she’s a wonderful person but somewhat naive. A friend once asked her if she’d like to join a group of women to go to Chippendale’s. She replied that sounded like fun, she’d being (insert name of six-year-old daughter). Confusion arose, at which point it turned out she thought they meant Chip-N-Dale, the two little cartoon chipmunks.
Blue Jays are back???!!! For the past few years I have not seen one, and was told that the West Nile virus wiped them out in our region. I missed seeing them, I missed hearing them, and the tragic way they went made me miss them more. But if you have Jays, I hope they start to migrate and re-populate my way.