The ice has about thawed but we had a day off from school today due to some roads still being dangerous. As I sat in the game room watching the birds this woodpecker returned to the feeder. I watched for a while as he cautiously moved through the tree before finally perching on the feeder.

The icy weather continues here and the bird feeder continues to be a popular spot for the birds in the area. This male cardinal sits near the feeder watching as the chickadees and finches feed.

A winter storm hit our area last night with a little snow and then some ice on top of it. The bird feeder has been popular with a variety of birds throughout the day. This Carolina Wren sat on an icy branch waiting his turn earlier today. There were also sparrows, cardinals, doves, house finches, titmice, and chickadees feeding as I watched.

David Lee is nearly seven months old now and Jennifer posted a video of him trying to crawl. This afternoon they came to visit so we got to see it for ourselves. He’s improving rapidly and was able to spin around and scoot along the floor to get to whatever drew his attention. Here he is going after one of his favorite attractions– the TV remote.

Saturday I refilled the bird feeder and watched as several birds came to feed. This robin sat for a while watching the chickadees and finches before moving over to perch precariously on the top of the feeder. The wind was blowing pretty strongly and the robin nearly fell off. I got this shot before he moved over to the feeder as he was perched on one leg like a flamingo.

Friday night the drama department at school presented a Murder Mystery production. The format was a bit different so it was actually a little easier to shoot in many ways. All of the cast was not on stage, some were in the “audience” and reacted to the action on stage. This meant that the lights were left up in the auditorium and I was able to shoot with a flash. This shot was one of my favorites from the night just because I liked the expressions on the faces.

Thursday night I went to the wrestling match at school and uploaded a gallery of shots to the school site. Wrestling can be difficult to shoot since the athletes are moving pretty quickly at times. I am able to get pretty close so can choose from a number of lenses and I’m able to use a flash. This shot was pretty typical of the shots I got. Here the referee is trying to get in position to call the pin which occurred just moments after this shot.

Today was a teacher work day as we get ready for the new semester. Tonight I shot the basketball games as we hosted region rival Greenville High. We won both games and this free throw put us on top in the final period of the boys’ game.

A neighbor gave us this plant a couple of weeks ago and it has been fascinating watching it grow so rapidly, as much as a couple of inches a day. The last two days it has broken out into blooms.

I love the DirecTV feature of being able to set up the DVR over the internet. Before going to bed Monday night I logged in and set up the DVR to record the Today show on Tuesday morning. On Wednesday I took a picture of the screen and on the left you can see Dena and you can see me taking a photo of the camera guy, who was upset that the girl taking pictures of folks with signs had walked right into his shot.