We're in the middle of winter where I live.  We seem to have skipped over autumn altogether, and we've now entered straight into the deep heart of winter, with current temperature (at the time of this writing) being somewhere around -13 C or about 8 F.   So any outside ventures require thick layers and warm boots!  A good cup of hot chocolate doesn't hurt, either.  The ground outside has a cold, hard ring to it.   If I walk on it, it feels stiff and unforgiving beneath my booted feet. The grass is dead, and the tree limbs bear scars of deep frost along their leafless lengths.    Birds only move to the feeder when necessary - they don't linger, coming only long enough to fill their pocketed cheeks with enough loot to keep the hunger away. Then they flit away - back to the warmth of their nests in trees and/or the ground.    The deer, too, have taken to the high country, and where once they grazed on the lower part of my land, they ar...