Frozen world

Thursday morning - my first time out with the dogs (yes, 6:30 am) - the world is frozen! The dogs hurried back in and so did I. Now for coffee and geting warm! When the sun came up, it was brilliant. didn't warm up anything but was brilliant.
I have 3 large bird baths on the ground and two small ones on top of feeders. I went and got warm water and filled them all up. Minutes later dozens of birds of all kinds of species were drinking. It was as if they had been waiting for me. Makes sense when you think about it, all the water is frozen, we don't have a stream nearby, so maybe they were waiting for me! The ground around the feeding stations was constantly moving. Doves, Junkos, Sparrows, Finches, Cardinals, Blue Jays, my red headed woodpecker, titmice, nuthatches, you name it, they were here. I have lived here for 15 years and started feeding the birds soon after moving in. I guess it does make a difference. When I open the backdoor and the dogs are with me, Junior runs barking at the top of his lungs to the fence where the feeding station is. He chases all the birds away, at least for the time being. Beyond the fence is a very old rambling rose, the bush is old and impenetratable. It is taller then I am and all the little birds go in ther for cover. Even if he could get out of the fencing, he would be sorry quickly - those thorns are sharp and he has basically no hair! But I think it is all in good fun, he has never made a real attempt to catch anything. I think he just enjoys making all the birds fly. And sometimes there are as many as 50 birds taking wing. It is rather impressive to see and hear. All those wings make a pretty loud noise.
I feed two feral cats in the garage and the little female (yes, I trapped them and had them fixed and their shots given) loves to catch birds. She also loves to drink from the birdbath, not the big one, but the large round one on the ground. I can see her from the kitchen window. She is a torty and really very pretty. All 3 of her siblings have died one way or another and on day I found her mother dead in the field. No sign of injury, no blood. That little mother was so beautiful, steel grey, sleek, and smart. I never could trap her, no matter what I tried. And try I did! I call the little Torty Smudges and the other cat is Oscar. He is a yellow tiger and shows all the signs of having been a house cat at one time. He is way relaxed around people. Just when you think that you can finally touch him, he gets up ever so slow and walks away just in the nick of time. I seldom see him hunting, he is getting on in years and he had an accident 2 years ago that left him with a limp. He was already neutered when I trapped him. People do strange things. Not that that was the first or only time I ever found an already spayed or neutered animal. That's for another day, though.