Happy New Year!

May God bless you in  the coming year!

Merry Christmas!

Oh, Deer

We've had a lot more snow so far this winter, and now we have a lot more white-tailed deer coming around our yard to eat the dead flowers and our cedar trees. I don't mind the dead vegetation being eaten, but it isn't nice thinking about them eating our cedar already. Usually they don't start looking in our area until February or March.

We see a lot of tracks every morning, and the other day we were able to see some early in the morning. There was a buck, a doe, and a fawn. I was able to get some photos through the window of the buck. 

I'm not sure if you would call this an 8-point buck or not. When I was looking to see how you figure out how many points a buck has, I found a lot different views. It seems to depend on where you live and what type of deer you have.

 If anyone knows what this one is, let me know. One site said that if you can hang a set of binoculars on it, you call that a point.

Antlers fall off in early to mid winter and then start growing again in spring. I wonder why we don't see leftover antlers in the bush.

 
Apparently most do not live beyond six years old when they are in the wild. Some have been known to live 10 years or more, though. It looks like this won't be a nice winter here for them if they are already having to come around to look for food. However, we do enjoy watching them even if they are being a nuisance. I'm hoping to get some more pictures as the year goes on. 

In His (God's) hand is the life of every creature

and the breath of all mankind.

Job 12:10

Winter

Winter has come: our lake is frozen, and we have some snow. Winter isn't everyone's favourite season, but I do like it. It has a beauty of its own. There was frost on the trees across the lake, and I tried taking photos of it. I believe I would need to go over closer to the trees to get a better view, but the views from this side of the lake are good anyway.

Our neighbour's dog was quite curious about what I was doing. This picture makes it look cold, especially with the fog still rising a bit across the lake.

On this side of the lake, I was able to take some closeups. Things were starting to melt in the bush. 

Serve the Lord with gladness:

come before His presence with singing.

Psalm 100:2

Loon Feathers

This fall when we were out in the kayaks, we often saw loon feathers floating in the water. I believe these were from the loons (probably the young) molting before migrating. Some mornings you would see quite a few, so  I started gathering them up. I was unable to take a photo of them from the kayak as I wasn't taking my good camera out on the water.

This is the way that you would see them floating on the water. Some had definite loon markings, while some were completely white. However, these white ones were mixed in with the spotted ones, so I believe they were still loon feathers.

I took a few more close ups of the feathers. Their design is beautiful.

Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God.

Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

Luke 12:6,7