Lovely photo, Diane.
I have a friend in Red Lodge, Montana, who is up to his knees in snow at the moment. He also has a full-time job trying to keep bears out of his trash cans.
We have sparrows in our garden.
It is funny, I didn't think bird watching would be enough to cheer me up this winter, but once again it has.
Our snow has came and went three times but looks like it is now here to stay, I have shoveled the path 7 times already this season but we only have about 6" right now.
We drive our garbage to a transfer station and I compost and recycle as much as I can - if it were left outside, all sorts of animals would be into it - skunks have been an issue for a few years in our area.