Eleven below last night, and below all day, but now slowly rising.
Pretty much ready
Had to fill the bird feeder 4 times, but interestingly not a single squirrel, not even a footprint. My take is that these animals have stayed put in their insulated dreys—seeing no profit in searching for food in the highly inhospitable conditions. My guess is that they will be out in force tomorrow.
… so we played Sequence with the neighbors. A little snow (no blizzard), but deep cold and strong wind. The walk across the street was bone chilling.
…or a lot of hype. In any case, we’re ready.
It was cold this morning—2 above. What you might expect on the winter solstice.
…with Arboretum volunteer, Barry, looking at things, and talking photos. Sunny, for a change, but the light didn’t last long.
…while mom attended to other things.
Photo from yesterday
Soccer and wrestling in the basement; games, reading, and conversation elsewhere. Understandably, the boys were thoroughly captivated by The Story Of Ping.
Cold. And cloudy until just before sunset.
When the sun came out I went for a walk—all the way up the hill in the park. Although my gait was irregular, I made it there and back, and it felt good to be out, walking in the cold.
When the winter chrysanthemums go,
There’s nothing to write about
But radishes.
—Basho
Windy, cloudy, and cold, and the feeder well used.
And, in anticipation of the coming cold, iceboats out of the barn.
Light snow coming down, thermometer dropping. Serious cold in the forecast.
When it became apparent that the level of seed was not dropping in the feeder, I went out and cleared the blockage caused by the recent freezing rain.
awakened
as ice bursts
the water jar
—Bashō
Another Christmas program.
…with old friends.
Nice time, dreary weather. Not a good night to be wildlife—moderately heavy and very cold rain, tossed around by a swirling wind.
…with the neighbors, for coffee at the Berres Bro. HQ and coffee shop. On the way we stopped at the most famous octagonal house in Wisconsin.
Great choir singing fun, multi-part songs.
Bit of sunshine in otherwise gray day.
Quiet Sunday, mostly needlework and woodworking. A walk worked in too, though, as part of knee retraining.
a crust of bread
jumps with the sparrows
round the courtyard
Dina Franin
Not much daylight, and even darker with daylong mist. One nice retirement option is to not get up until morning has broken, but that’s now after 7.
…with friend, and failed state senate candidate, Steve, at Daddy Maxwell’s in Williams Bay. Horrendous drive in driving snow on the way there, so the meeting started late. Back roads were the way to go, as the main thoroughfares were crawling.
Several good ideas on how to improve the Wisconsin Democratic Party—in between bites of toast and marmalade. Drive home no problem as the roads were either melted or plowed.
‘Tis the season.
And pie too!
…for neighbor Sylvia. Q and A was good because Sylvia is a good storyteller, as in the story of her grandmother’s spirit inhabiting first, a stuffed owl, and later, after that was destroyed by a cat, real ones.
…but still I ice on the ponds.
Brief snow shower early afternoon.
…that got away.
After a slow start, down to Santa’s workshop, where things did not speed up much.
Last night’s dinner of steak, peppers and onions, along with spinach/artichoke pasta was a hit.
…steak on the Green Egg. But first I had to use a broom to encourage an opossum to get out from under, prior to ignition.
Much of the afternoon spent in Santa’s workshop.