Cold Sunday

We took a hike back up into our woods this morning to cut our Christmas tree. I took my camera to record the momentous event, and I could have gotten some good pictures, but a combination of frozen fingers and frozen brain resulted in no shots to share. Sometimes I really worry about myself; I won't even admit to you what I did wrong.

We did return with a small tree which is the size I like to put up and decorate these days. Small that it is, we both really enjoy plugging in the lights we string heavily around it's little girth, both first thing in the morning when we get up in darkness and then again as soon in the afternoon as the outside light begins to fade. The tree is in the garage thawing now and I'm going to try to get it up and decorated tomorrow.

Last Friday night/Saturday morning we finally got our first covering of snow. A good three inches of very light, fluffy snow. Then we had a howling wind all day Saturday which very effectively scoured the snow off every unprotected spot. So we still see green grass in the front and gravel in the back. Temp at 6 a.m. was -6 degrees but it warmed up to +16 degrees this afternoon. We've had flurries on and off all day with lots of dampness to the air so it didn't feel as warm as the thermometer indicated.

With this onset of much colder weather, our chickens stick pretty close to their house not caring to venture out onto that cold, white stuff. The geese, however, seem tougher and come barreling out when Roy opens their door in the morning.

Apparently they do feel the cold on their feet though because they spend a bit of time hunkered down with their feet tucked under them.

Roy shoveled off the deck yesterday but the wind blew a windrow of snow up against the front door. While I was out there this afternoon sweeping it away, I was apparently in the flight plan of chickadees as they whizzed by me going to and from their feeders. I ducked in to grab my camera and caught this little guy filling up on peanut butter.

Well, one forecast we heard said we were to get 6" of snow overnight tonight. Another said to expect 1". Guess we'll just have to wait and see what the morning light brings.