Rocky Fork

January...day 4...The sun is shining and the snow is melting and off I go on a drive.  It is very cold but we have no intention to leave the car.  We are out just to enjoy and see what we can see.....So we decided that Rocky Fork was the direction we were headed....
Along route  50 we saw this Vulture down on the ground.  We decided to take a look....

He looks like he is trying to stand on his head!  Very strange....He saw us watching and flew up to the tree branch above.

Our first bird sighting...a Black-faced Vulture.

We turned off 50 at my favorite picture taking place...the Old farm place....

In the winter, you can see the old farm house...here are pictures from past visits

                                              June 2011. 

                                  August of 2011, the farm house can't be seen through the trees.

This is 50 across the road....

As we drove around the lake, the scenery was so beautiful...

I would have sat there awhile if it hadn't been so cold....brrrr

There was a thin layer of ice in spots on the lake.

This Blue Heron didn't mind the cold at all...We saw allot of Herons.

Crows were everywhere...this one in a corn field calling for his family.

We were so surprised to see Blue Birds.  Not just one or two but more like 7 to 10.  They were so pretty...Got the front and back pictures....

We saw American Coots and this group we watch come out of the water and running up the beach to these Canadian Geese.  They can run fast!  They pecked around for a few minutes and back into the water they went.

Saw 4 different Northern Harriers...It is hard to get picture when they are hunting.  If you see one flying over a field, stop and watch.   They will hover and dive down for their prey.  Very interesting 

The marina, looked so strange with no boats.

This is how it looks in Summer.......

This is looking across the lake from the Marina.

The Ring-billed Gulls were sunning themselves on the docks.

We drove on around until we came to the dam and where the McCoppins Mill stood until it burned down in Oct. 1998.  I wish I had seen it before.

This is what is left of the Mill.

This is in the summer. The ruins are almost hidden from site.  We found that this is a great place to see Herons too.

There were 5 there the day I took this in 2011.

                                      This one was taken in 2012. A very dry summer.

But we could see the fish below us from the bridge.

And there were allot of them.

The other side of the bridge is pretty too....

You can see my car and where I pull off so we can view the Mill.  This was the only time out of the car....

Another pretty view of the lake and Coots...they were everywhere...We did see a couple of Ring-necked Ducks and a few Greb and of course the Mallards were plentiful too.

If you still have daylight, Paint Creek is very close and the Dam is very nice area.

 These were taken on the bridge..either side. We saw Herons on the ice on the picture below.

There were about 5 and I scared them when I got out of the car to take their pictures...but they came back right away...I guess they didn't want their fishing hole to freeze up.

There is a Ranger building there and they put out bird seed and one never knows what birds one will see...These Starlings were sunning themselves in the top of the tree...the sun made them take on this beautiful orange color..

We also saw Titmouse, Chickadee, Nuthatch, Dove, Blue Jays, Flickers,Chipping Sparrows and Mockingbirds, at least 5 Hawks, (couldn't ID them, some large  and some small, all flew off)  lots of Junco and Cardinals.

Cardinal and Chipping Sparrow.

And then we saw these characters....standing in the cold...but made us smile...

Guess we aren't the only ones that go to the parks in the snow.... ;)

Birds & Cookies!

Now I know you are wondering what birds and cookies have in common.....well let me start from the beginning......



Today it is windy and some snowflakes are falling.  A great day for listening to Christmas music and baking cookies to take to my Grandkids.  My favorite is the Candy Cane cookie...First I got all the supplies out....

I haven't made these in a couple of years so I hope they turn out!

Creaming the butter and Crisco isn't my favorite thing to do...it always get stuck in the mixer...

After it is all blended, I divide it into two sections and one I add red dye to and roll them up in wax paper and put in the refrigerator for about an hour.

Then I take a pinch of the white and a pinch of the red and roll them into long, snake like things.

The white dough wasn't as moist as the red and I had a few problems but I am not a perfectionist and all I really care about is how good they taste!  You take these two and twist them together and make it look like a candy cane...

The ones on the right are going into the oven and the ones on the left just came out and the crushed peppermint was added....

This is the bag of crushed peppermint....I understand that the groceries now sell crushed peppermint....I will look for that the next time I make these....but there is something to be said for the smashing of the peppermint...relieves one of any anxiety ......lol....

The recipe if anyone would like to try...I usually get 2 dozen because I like fat cookies.... 

Then I did the sugar cookies....(I cheated...not from scratch)

While working on these cookies, I was also watching my bird feeders.....The birds were out today looking for food!

The Carolina Wren was out there with the rest of his family....Love the sounds they make...you hear them coming before you see them

Four Tufted Titmouse were out there too.....making their sweet little sounds...and of course the unmistakable Chickadee...I think that was my first bird sound that I remembered...

The Downy Woodpecker and her spouse were there too....

Then the cute White-breasted Nuthatch stopped by....

 The Cardinal was hanging around watching what was going on.....

And of course the House Sparrows were there too....but they don't like it when I let Miss Kitty out...the others don't seemed bothered by her but the Sparrows stay away....

This is Miss Kitty......She went in and out several times before deciding it was too cold and windy....

She loves to sit on the porch and watch them... 

So it has been a good day....Got to bird watch and bake cookies....and listen to Christmas music and now I am ready for the family gatherings.....I hope everyone's family gatherings will be filled with love and fun and of course, COOKIES!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!!!

December Drive to Deer Creek !

I had a very nasty cold for about 10 days.  Had been inside trying to get well.  Finally I started feeling better and really tired of being home.  My sister called and off we went on a drive to see what was out there.  My sister had been taking care of her daughter and grandson...her daughter had broken her foot.  So you can see we were both ready for a nice long drive.
We first stopped at Charlie's pond.  There we watched an American Kestrel.  He was hunting for food.  He was on the telephone line and would dive down to the ground.  Sometimes he would come back to the line with a tidbit, he would eat and sometimes he would have nothing.

He also kept an eye on us.  We tried to get a little closer so I could get a better picture, but he would fly further away when we had gotten to close.
Was thrilled to see that the rain had helped the canal area that had been dry because of the drought this summer.

We then decided to head to Deer Creek but missed the turn off and turned on Island Rd. off 23.  A new adventure, we hoped.

As we were driving down this road, 3 deer ran out in front of us and we stopped and watched them leaping and running through the field.  Those cute white tails up in the air..was a treat to see. 

We came to this beautiful bridge....

With a nice view...

This was the Commercial Point Road Bridge.  I had never been out that way before.  Always something new to see and learn about.

We finally found our way to Deer Creek and started checking out our favorite places to see wildlife...nothing!  Was so quite and not even a sparrow flying around...very disappointing...

Finally we saw 4 crows and a couple of Killdeer.  So we continued driving around the Lake...then my Sister saw something moving in the tree....yes!  a woodpecker really working on this hole....A Hairy Woodpecker

From the looks of this tree, he has worked on this tree for a long time....

We then went to the Lodge, since we weren't having much luck with birds..

This squirrel greeted us at the lodge and so did this Vulture!

The Lodge was all decorated for Christmas, each tree had a different theme...

Even the deer was all dressed up.....

So we had to get into the picture too.....We have always enjoyed driving to Deer Creek and having lunch at the Lodge (but didn't today)..I recommend it to everyone, if you have cabin fever...

We continued our drive and found some sea gulls and a Heron.

There were a couple of Hawks but of course they didn't hang around....off they flew..Also saw a Northern Harrier hunting..That was fun to watch him flying around and diving to the ground..

So we started our way back to home and in the sky was this neat sight..that my sister called the Care Bear rainbow....

It lasted a long time....of course we headed for Canal Rd. to finish off our drive.  I wanted to see if the rain had helped...

This Red Tailed Hawk was there in the Canal Rd. Park as we pulled in ...and a few sparrows...

On of the Canal ruins...I think this was used to adjust the canal water level from the Scioto River which is just on the other side of this...

As we drove down the road there was more water in the canal then the last time I was by here....the falls are still dry but the pond seems to be coming back....

What is this?  On the ground and blooming in December!!!!

Dandelions!  I was a bit surprised to see them.... ;)

By now it is starting to get dark (can't wait till it starts to get dark at a later time!) and so home we went...but even if we didn't see allot of birds and wildlife...we had fun...

I snapped the sunset as we were coming into town.  What a wonderful day for a drive.

Hope everyone has the Merriest of Christmas and the Happiest of New Year!  I would also like to thank all of you that read my little blog..... Hope to have some new and interesting and exciting tales to share with you in 2013! ;)