Do Birds Predict the Seasons in Iowa?

And even more!

Robins Under the Crab Apples

Today,  it is cold...  Cold-er than yesterday.... and that was pretty cold.   Today,  it was solidly in the teens...and that is a very cold day  for Iowa.    However...

More came after I stopped

There are Robins here.  Not just a few stray ones that seem to be confused or lost  ( Although I question what they are thinking at this moment) ....But a BUNCH!  As if they are the vanguard of some  massive Migration.

As close as I could get. 

The thing is,  the ground is so frozen,  it is similar to concrete... even where there is no snow.  Luckily,   there are several crab apple trees scattered through out the town so they have some fruit to nibble on during the deep freeze.  I think I blogged about this before...but it still shocks me to see it.

Michigan Spring Herald

And it is not like the Robins never left.....They did!   They pretty much were gone by October...I'm not sure where they go, but I'm assuming somewhere south  ( and warm!) .  So I'm not sure why they suddenly feel the need to come back up north when the weather in January is traditionally the worst!

In Michigan,  you could pretty much bank on the Robins coming during the spring.   It used to be a game for us as to who could see the first Robin of the year.   It was almost always after a solid warm day in March or April. Forget the groundhog.....we used the return of the Robins as our measuring stick.

They don't seem like friends here

I guess Iowa has its own set of birds that foretell the season.    For instance....Bald Eagles and Turkey Vultures. Vultures arrive in late spring and stay for the summer.   The Eagles seem to come back only after the last Vulture has vacated the area and remain for the duration of the winter.   Not sure if they hassle each other over territory or if things just work out that way.

Spare room 

Bedroom Closet

Other than that,  Cheryl and I must have been motivated today, because we completed the closets in the spare room and bed room.   I'm quite happy they are now finished.   As soon as the paint dries,  I'm sure we will have to reorganize a few things.  I guess we have a few other projects on the horizon,  but for now...it appears we may be in the closing moments of the "apartment painting" chapter.

Cheryl paints the edges

Hiro shows how cats help out.

Hope everyone else is staying warm.   As for me,  I am brewing up a pot of home made Chili!   I could not rely on HyVee to keep their Chili stocked,  So I'm taking a stab at making my own.   The recipe seems simple enough.  I don't like mine too spicy.   I guess with this first attempt,  I should have cooked the beans a little longer.

Chili on a cold day.

  Or used canned beans instead of the dried ones.   All information I can use for the next batch.   The flavor is still good enough to eat...just the texture is off a bit.

Soaking the dry beans 24 hours

  I'm going to try to soak the remaining beans overnight.  ( recommended by Betty Crocker)  to see how well that softens them up.  We shall see how things go.