Our destination on the walk this morning was the dairy barns. Again, Taylor accompanied me on his new bike, and again, Owen chose to stay at home, playing Nintendo games and fiddling around on the computer.

Although the university now houses horticultural activities in these buildings rather than cows, folks around here still refer to this building as the dairy barns, and always in the plural.

The site is under development as a botanical garden. Beyond the left frame of the photo, there sits a green house with a sign on the door annoucing that students are developing a butterfly garden there -- news to me. I wonder why my friend Dick the bug guy hasn't mentioned that. Maybe he's not involved in the project, preferring to propagate luna moths in his kitchen.

This building always draws my eye. Gambrel roofs always do.

Our town sits in USDA zone 5, which means, I think, that the temperatures will fall to -15� F every few years, even colder with the wind chill. It's not an every day occurrence, or even an every year occurrence, but temperatures that low occur often enough to kill off some perennials.

Not many of the plants will provide decoration in winter here, so the winter garden will rely on structure to carry its appeal through the colder months. The evergreens, leafless shrubs, the husks of some decorative grasses, and some hope -- they'll survive. Everything else will die off to the roots.

The days are getting longer already, aren't they?

Cold weather is not a concern today. We've had another day with temperatures breaking 60�, and Taylor and I took advantage of the weather, stretching the walk to an hour and taking a very circuitous route through the campus and our neighborhood.

KSU took on Washington tonight in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego. That shot three hours for me. This particular bowl game will have little affect on the season standings since Washington is unranked, and KSU has been squeezed out of the BCS bowls, despite being ranked seventh in the their polls.

Washington is now coached by Rick Neuheisel (sp?), who previously coached at Colorado, a Big 12 rival, so that added some extra interest to the game.

Once again the offense limped along, depending on the defense to wear the other side down. But KSU pulled the game out 24-20, finishing the season 11-1, losing only to the Nebraska machine this year, quite an accomplishment for a program that had the losingest program in Division 1 at the start of the decade.

When I start writing about the outcome of football games in here, it's time to end the entry.

The warm temperatures reduced the feeder activity, but I did see a flicker in the birdbath. At the feeder, I saw a nuthatch again, along with the usual sparrows, chickadees, and titmice (?). There was another wren-like bird whose name escapes me at the moment, but I'll retrieve it before I end the entry, or I'll check the field guide.

Brown creeper. It was a brown creeper, the little wren-like bird that takes a spiral course to climb a tree from the bottom. They usually feed on insects hiding in the bark of trees, but occasionally visit the feeder.

Did I forget to mention Lion King and Antz when I was listing the videos I've watched with the boys lately? Add'em.