The Blustery Days

Greetings ardent readers! This is The Daily Bone and I'm your steadfast doggie reporter 

Chester L. W. Spaniel. 

I am standing in the back yard, and as you can see, it's quite sunny out. But don't let that sunshine fool you. It's 2º and the wind is whipping through at way below zero. Here are some pictures from yesterday when the storm finally rolled in at mid day. 

We didn't actually get too much snow in our area south of Rochester. Sometimes the storms coming off the Great Lakes dump most of their snow on Buffalo and run out by the time they reach us. But we did get the cold temperatures and high winds, making it very dangerous to drive or be outdoors.

It was a good thing we filled up all the birdie feeders. These birdies were very happy to get a good meal. Sid Starling wasn't picky, and ate a variety of suet, seeds, and bread bits.

The little nuthatches enjoyed the suet the most.

I checked out the Sparrows Incorporated Winter Lodge in the Sticks. There were dozens of sparrows in there. They didn't even fly away when I got near. In fact, a few of them came out and sat on the sticks and fence to greet me! They were very grateful for the food and lodging. Mr. Mortimer Seedcruncher III, CEO of Sparrows Inc. requested that we put out some more bits of bread in the window feeder. 

OK Mr. Seedcruncher. I'm heading inside now to tell ghostwriter.

Our Uncle John, who lives in Tonawanda, took some nice pictures of the Niagara River. He's a great photographer! He and ghostwriter remember when they were kids growing up. They would go for a big walk by Niagara Falls to see the ice, and they didn't care how cold it was! 

Don't worry about me being out in the cold. I only stay out for a few minutes.

And then I go in and take a nap. I hope everybody in the path of that storm is safe and warm now. 

rochester-ny-weather-whiteout-conditions-crashes-close-390-thruway

Waiting Again

Hello everybody. This is The Daily Bone and I'm your chilly doggie reporter Chester L. W. Spaniel. 

I'm out in my back yard standing in the snow from Winter Storm Harper. It's all crusty from being repeatedly melted and refrozen. 

But now I hear yet another gigantic terrible end-of-the-world(again) storm coming our way. This time it's going to bring bone-chilling cold from the sinister polar vortex. Doesn't that sound scary?  

It kind of fills you with ominous foreboding. But then I found out it has a name: Winter Storm Jaden! Wow! Doesn't that take all the terror out of it? 

Harumph! 

Well, I won't make light of it. I hope everyone in its path stays warm and safe. Fortunately I still have my heavy winter coat on. Ghostwriter and Dad have been hinting about me going to see my groomer, Miss Jacquie. But I'm pretty sure they'll wait for the weather to warm up a bit. 

Meanwhile, I proceeded to do an inspection of my yard. There seem to be a lot of branches down. 

I went over to the Sparrows Inc. Winter Lodge in the Sticks. Nobody was home.

Ghostwriter says that later today she's going to go out and get some birdie seeds to fill up the feeders before the fearsome storm hits.  Then she's going to pick up all the fallen branches and add them to the Lodge. That should entice the birdies to take shelter there. 

The Daily Bone will be following the storm for the next few days. Please check back for updates. 

And now it's nap time!

The Other Coast

Oh, and to our Blogville friends: Ghostwriter just got done with a 5-day stretch of work. She said she ran non-stop the entire time because all the little old people were getting sick with colds, and a few developed pneumonia. She has three days off now, and will go back and read all of your bloggies that she might have missed lately. 

Here We Go Again!

This is a TDB fast breaking news flash. I'm your diligent doggie reporter Chester L. W. Spaniel.

It's snowing again. 

(Yes, I know I have snow on my nose.) 

After the Storm

Greetings friends and fans. This is The Daily Bone and I'm your reliable doggie reporter 

Chester L. W. Spaniel here for more on-going coverage of Winter Storm Harper.

We survived it! Yesterday morning I went out and this is how it looked.

Chest deep, fluffy snow, and a bitterly cold wind.

The guys we hired to plow the driveway this winter made a huge mountain of snow in front of the house. Ghostwriter said she and Dad had to do some extra shoveling to clear the way for her car to get out of the garage, but otherwise it was OK. 

I spent a lot of time sitting on the couch looking towards the dining room window. 

There were lots of nice birdies visiting the feeders.

We've never seen so many cardinals, juncos, and nuthatches all at once before. Gordy Whitebeak and his team of juncos took up residence at the Sparrows Inc. Winter Lodge in the Sticks. A flock of gold finches sat in the pear tree and took turns eating sunflower seeds. 

It was dark and dreary most of the day. We got a little tiny glimpse of sunlight just before it set.

Oh, and guess what? Ghostwriter got called into work! She had to be there from 11pm until 3am. Blah!!! She said the roads were all plowed, but they were slippery. As long as she kept driving around 40mph, it was OK. No one else was foolish enough to be on the road during that time. It was -5º while she drove home! She said she saw the moon, but didn't get to watch the eclipse.

Today it was bright and sunny and COLD!

Too cold for zoomies.

I'm just going to follow you.

Oh, I think there's a scent under there.

Wooooohoooo! 

Cold cold cold! 

Good thing I have my winter coat on!

We saw lots of birdies today too. Even more than yesterday!

We hope everyone is safe and warm.

Oh, and one more thing. My Jason human went to a wedding during the storm on Saturday! They are friends of his. The wedding got some publicity. Here's a link:

outdoor-wedding-had-snowy-setting

Winter Storm Harper: Bring It On!

This is a TDB special report. It's 1pm and I'm your hardy doggie reporter on the spot in my back yard anxiously awaiting the fearsome, horrifying, end of the world (again) gigantic, awesome, terrifying, blizzard of the century! It's supposed to be so bad that State and local authorities are banning all big trucks and buses from travelling the major motorways until it's over. I'll be giving you on-going updates, so please check back here throughout the day.

My ghostwriter has the weekend off, unless someone gets stuck in the snow and can't make it to work and they have to call her to come in, even though she's not officially on call either. She would be very disappointed if they did, because, in her business that's never an excuse for not going to work.

Anyway, ghostwriter, and Dad and I plan to do absolutely nothing all weekend.

Seriously? That sounds OK to me! 

   Now, let me go back and fill you in on the weather insanity that's been going on all week. On Wednesday we thought the snow calamity might be starting when we got pelted with graupel.

What is graupel? 

But it stopped after a few minutes and the sun peeked out from behind the clouds.

Harumph!

The next two days, we watched the sky for signs of impending doom. Hmmm. It looks kind of like a faint halo around the sun through the cloud cover. That means ice crystals up there.

Yipes! Could this be it???? My humans ordered pizza and chicken wings.

Yum!

And I took a nice nap.

Ghostwriter went to work yesterday, and kept looking out to see if the snow had started yet. By the time she got home (around midnight) there was still not much going on weather-wise. This morning it was snowing a little.

It's rather refreshing, I'd say.

1:45pm: Here's the weather map today. That blue stuff is snow and it's headed our way!

Did you know they're now giving names to winter storms? The one going on now is called Harper. Isn't that cute? Well, we're not scared of any winter storm, especially one named Harper! I say bring it on! I love to run in the snow!

3pm. Ghostwriter filled up the birdie feeders, and we've had plenty of takers, like this blue jay:

Come and get it birdies!

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Now it's time for a word from our sponsors.

🐥🐥 SPARROWS INCORPORATED 🐥🐥

The Sparrows Incorporated Winter Lodge in the Sticks is open for birdie business. It's the perfect luxury retreat from the cold winter wind! It's situated just a short flit away from our freshly stocked birdie feeders full of sunflower seeds, suet, and bits of bread designed to supply your higher metabolic needs during this chilly time of year. This location has been totally rebuilt and refurbished and includes enough twigs and branches to perch a multitude of boisterous sparrows.

For a limited time only, the Sparrows. Inc. Winter Lodge in the Sticks will be charging half price for overnight shelter from Winter Storm Harper. Please hurry. Offer only available until Monday January 21, or until the storm passes.




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Here's a TDB live update:

6pm and it's dark out. The snow continues to fall, blown by a cold wind.
It's a chilling 18º F. I'm just out here for a quick pee, and don't plan to run around. The neighbors seem to be having some kind of party, though, and I should probably bark, but it's too cold out!

Stay tuned for further developments.

OK, it's now 10pm and this is what it looks like outside:

I'm pretty sure we'll survive if this keeps up. That's all for my report today. We're going to bed soon. To all our readers out there: we hope you're all some place safe and warm, and aren't stuck in a snow drift somewhere! Good night!