Sandhills & geese amidst impending storm

The sandhill cranes and Canada geese have been gathering the past few weeks in the cut barley field west of our house. I like pretending they're gearing up for a mass liftoff in advance of tomorrow & Thursday's coming storm. The storm's initial clouds and darkness are hovering above the mountains in the image.
Lots of sandhill cranes have been circling overhead on a daily basis and can be seen & heard frequently. I'd guess they'd be heading south soon; maybe this storm will push them a little more.

We put bird feeders out two weeks ago and have been attracting the usual feathered critters - gold finches, sparrows, red-headed blackbirds. The squirrels are back too now, since they have food to try to obtain. Mountain chickadees are coming to the suet as well.

Antics (& death of) a squirrel

The squirrel has managed to conquer the round PVC tubes hung on the clothesline and the plastic baffle that covers the small birdfeeder. Anybody who has squirrels in their yard will agree that these critters can be hilarious to watch, especially if you are a backyard bird food supplier (AKA bird-feeder). Back in her younger days, Caddy (dog) would do her best to catch them, which she sometimes did (see photo of Caddy with squirrel in her mouth). When we first got Caddy in 1995, I would be mad at her for an extended period whenever she killed an animal. She was such a great predator, even on a leash. While on a 25-foot-long retractable leash she has killed and consumed numerous rabbits of varying ages. Her lust for blood extended to mice, moles, birds, and stray cats that made the life-changing decision to unwittingly enter her yard.

Now in her advanced years of age 13+, she no longer as quickly pursues all the critters she used to, and the yard squirrels seem to know that she's not as dangerous as she was when we first moved here. But they should still be very careful......