It’s been a long time since I’ve blogged.  For New Year’s I thought I should write some kind of blog and get back on track with this. 

Update on Shadow (my found Plott Hound):  We ended up not keeping Shadow. No one ever contacted me from the Michigan CoonHound Rescue despite my repeated emails, phone calls, facebook requests and Tweets trying to get their attention.  I wasn’t really impressed by that. I honestly needed some help with that dog and I didn’t want anything bad to happen to her. I think she was mostly a Plott Hound.  My Dad used to breed Walker Hounds and one of his buddies is still really into hounds of all kinds.  He ended up taking her.  He was all set up to have the hounds. He had 3 in his pack already.  He hunts Bear, Raccoons and Cats with them.  She turned out not to be into Bear or Cat hunting, but he is going to keep her around for the raccoons.  At least she is well fed, cared for and safe.  I never could have kept her from running in our unfenced yard.

Update on Quincy (My beautiful Basset Hound):  Quincy has been doing really great. She is completely housebroken and spends all of her at home days now free of the crate.  We ended up taking the crate out of the house and she hasn’t seemed to mind. She still gets some crate time at Doggie Day Care.  Steve and I are considering getting her a new basset hound friend in the spring from the same breeder (if at all possible). 

Update on the House:  Steve and one of his friends covered the crawlspace in a 6 mil plastic.  They used spray on adhesive to adhere it to the walls of the foundation and allow any moisture to run off and prevent it from getting stuck under the plastic. This completely solved our moisture problem in the house. It is now almost too dry!

Update on The Backyard: We’ve been keeping up with the feeders, but I haven’t had time in my schedule to participate in Feeder Watch (no 2 days in a row to be able to watch).  We are seeing the usual suspects.  Also, we were observing at least one bat every night until pretty late in the fall, so I am pleased to report that our local bat population seems not to have changed.  Steve and a couple of his friends saw a mole in the backyard above ground this fall.  That was our one notable sighting.  Squirrel numbers are down from last year (only about 4 – 6 per day instead of 10 – 18).  I have still been seeing pheasant and turkeys, but not in the backyard, just in the neighborhood.

Update on Steve & I:  I am going to rededicate myself to this blog and some outdoor photography.  I’ve been admiring a lot of other people’s nature photos on Facebook and resolve to take more of my own.  We also are going on a New Year’s diet and hopefully going to get a little more active, hopefully that will include spending more time in the backyard.

So, how have your new year’s been?  Any new interesting winter bird sightings?  More posts to come (with pictures!).