Monday, December 7, 2009

Light at the end of the tunnel...

...and it's not another train coming.

Tomorrow night (pending the weather of course) is Zach's last day of school. Makes me want to break out in song.

Of course if we get the 10 inches we're predicted to get, then Saturday will be the last day. No way I can drive up to Fond du Lac in weather like that. I'm hoping we can get it all over with tomorrow but not at the risk of our lives.

We woke up to snow this morning. Lovely and slippery. I looked out back and the bird feeder that was mostly ignored all summer is empty again. I just refilled it last Friday. I'm not a birder so I don't know the different kinds but I think we've got starlings. I'm guessing but they're the size of the ones I've seen in movies and they hang about in herds...I mean flocks...or whatever. There were a couple of good sized birds out there today. One was crested, like a cardinal, but I thought they migrated south for the winter. I'm going to have to get some books from the library. I need to know whom I'm feeding.

I normally don't get much done on days I drive up north because the drive is exhausting for me and I don't like to start the trip already tired but things had to get done. Like shoveling the driveway and sidewalks. And re-filling the bird feeders and giving them fresh water instead of ice in the bird bath. Not much for most people, but I was really wiped out by the time I got done. Thankfully it was another good night for sleeping. I got about 9 hours. Seems like feast or famine for me regarding sleep.

I'm baking some homemade macaroni and cheese for supper. We did the McSnacky thing up at Fond du Lac but even though I ate a cheap meal, it still manages to add up so I'm glad we won't be doing this anymore (save one more time.) I'm getting used to my new routine and while not pushing it too much, I'm finding my activity level increasing...slowly...but increasing. So much so that I'm not sitting down to knit during the day. I spend a few hours knitting at night while watching tv (don't do that much at all during the day) but my down time during the day seems to be for reading or researching. I'm learning that even now I'm too late on preparing some things for next year's garden.

I need to start carrying around a notebook with me to jot down things I want to add to my blog because the moment I sit down to write my entry for the day, I forget 70% of what I want to write. And a camera. I want to start adding pictures back to my blog. Especially my birdfeeder with the snow on its roof. And all the birds fighting for the tiny space.

Tomorrow I need to set out food for the ground critters. We've got some mouse and gerbil food left over from our dearly departed mice so I'd rather they got it than to throw it out. There is a mouse family that lives in the wood pile up the hill. They don't bother me and I don't bother them. They're welcome to live in that wood pile as long as they want...until they come in my home. Then the cat will talk to them and show them the error of their ways. So far, only a couple have managed to make it inside.

And then we've got the squirrels that drive Professor to insanity during the summer. They need to be rewarded for their efforts.

I'm almost ready to cozy in for the winter. I could so hibernate.

And addition to this post: Tom just called from work to tell me he had an accident on the way there. He crunched the right corner panel...again...(this was the same one the semi crunched when it ran him off the road in a hit and run...good thing we didn't spend our deductible to fix it) so the light isn't working and the truck is just not good in slippery weather. He's decided not to take the back country roads to work in order to save a few miles in weather like this and fortunately he wasn't going fast at all and a rotten post stopped him from flipping the truck into a ditch. Got a lot to be thankful for.

TTFN

2 comments:

Kay-From the Back Yard said...

Good that Tom is okay. We are supposed to get a lot of snow and blowing wind, too.

Were the crested birds Cedar Waxwings? See:
http://images.google.com/images?q=cedar+waxwing&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=iWceS8ncKIa6NbfKlKIK&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQsAQwAA

One year I had a crabapple tree full of them. What a beautiful sight it was!

Kathy said...

Yes! That's what they looked like, as much as I could tell as they were at the back of the yard and I didn't think to get the binoculars out. Thanks!

Tom is still shook up so Zach decided not to go to school tonight so he could take the car which tracks better in the snow. That darned truck is way too light and just skids all over the place even with 2 25 pound bags of cat litter in the back.