Getting Longer

The length of daylight, that is. I noticed while I was putting out the trash the other day that it was nearly 5:30, and still light. Not daylight, but twilight. Still, I could see very well, and there was a pretty sunset. It's amazing to think that in December, I was in the dark at this time of the day. Even though this has been a pretty mild winter, with no snow to speak of, it's still winter.

Winter is interesting in its own way. I love the way the bare trees look against the sky. Each type of tree has its own silhouette, and even without leaves, I can pick out many of them by sight. I love the way I have so many birds at my feeders. I even love watching the squirrels, although I will admit that I kind of have a love-hate relationship with them. I put food out for them, away from the birdfeeders, but they still feel compelled to raid my feeders. I also miss our chipmunks, who have apparently gone underground for the winter. I do fear for one of the chipmunks. He had his den under a tree in my backyard, reached by a hole dug under one of the roots. He spent a large part of the summer packing his cheeks with assorted nuts and seeds from beneath my feeders, and running back to this hole to store it. Recently, one of the squirrels found it, and enlarged the hole, and has been busy raiding it. I tried to get a picture of him coming out of the hole, but it didn't work. I'm wondering if I will see this chipmunk in the spring.

The picture at the top of the post was taken yesterday afternoon. It was raining, so I had to take it from the front porch. It's mostly Pepperidge and oak trees in that group. Once again, this was taken after doing some more reading in my Digital Cameras for Dummies. I used the "Program" setting, and was surprised at how well this came out. It was darkening, and fairly murky outside, but I really got a nice clear picture. The flash did light up the branches from my fringe tree, in the lower right hand corner.