Scattered Seed

Our fourth winter weather advisory has been issued for the month of December.   Number 3 on Sunday didn’t amount to much,  so maybe this one won’t either.  After work tonight I headed out to fill the bird feeders.   Ice and freezing rain is due to move into our area around midnight,  and I wanted to have seed out in case the deck is a dangerous place to be in the morning.

I wish for safe journeys for all holiday travelers,  and especially for Garrett, as he drives down from the outskirts of Buffalo tomorrow.

It was bitter cold today,  beginning with a 4 degree reading when I first got up this morning.   Now the temperatures are supposed to start rising,  and I wonder if we really will have a white Christmas after all.

Awake at 5 a.m.  with much on my mind,  it seems that it has been a very long day.  George again took care of the errands,  and cooked our dinner,  so that I could kick my shoes off and relax a little bit tonight.  That is the best present ever!

Tomorrow I go in to work an hour early in hopes of being able to leave a little earlier than usual.   At least that is the plan.  Once my workday is over,  I will get my second wind,  and the holiday can begin.

It was so cold today!   I didn’t want to leave the house, and when I did,  there was a lot of scraping of the windshield to do.    Snow was still in the air today,  but lighter than it has been.   At work,   warm blankets were the order of the day,  and I wore a jacket in the hallways,  as there are so many doors that open to the outdoors as I pass through.

George is now on break for the next couple of weeks,  and fortunately,  took care of many chores and errands that needed to be done.  I appreciated his wrangling with the insurance company over coverage of my August surgery.  With two policies,  and one error on the part of the doctor’s office,  it took him much of the day to get it all straightened out!    When I returned home about 5:30,  we headed back out the door for a dinner out.   Our list of things to accomplish tonight was quite long,  so this gave us a break in the kitchen at least.

Friday after work,  I came home and cooked some homemade dog biscuits for one of our residents.   As part of his therapy he had mixed the dog biscuit dough and cut out the shapes,  and I only needed to cook and dry them overnight for him.   Today he cut pieces of felt for a little stocking,  and I sewed that up when we got home from dinner.   Tomorrow he will fill the stocking with the dog biscuits and present them to his dog, Jake, on Christmas day.

All’s quiet now,  and our chores are done.   Garrett called earlier as he was about to make candy cane cookies for work,  and had a question.  Morgan instant-messaged with me from Seattle.   Rebecca called for the oven temperature for her own candy cane cookie baking.  I made a call to Dad and Evelyn and chatted with them a bit about their day and upcoming week.   Now George and I are settled down with the animals to watch a movie.

Presents are multiplying under the tree,  but the cats still seem to find a place to hide out under there.  For some reason,  Picasso enjoys going under for her drinking water.    I just enjoy the decorations and colored lights,  and when George unplugs them,  I know it’s time for bed.

Two more days of work.   Then Christmas.  Then a week’s vacation for me.    Can’t wait.

Up at daybreak,  the furnace running,  the wind blowing the snow horizontally across the deck.    In the early light I could see the juncos in the snow,  and the mourning doves in the trees.   It turned out to be one of the best Feederwatch days I’ve ever had.

A lone brown-headed cowbird showed up,  and showed me his snow-covered beak

The Carolina wren returned, and went straight for the suet

There were two white-breasted nuthatches stopping by this afternoon

A hairy woodpecker worked up and down the willow tree

A female cardinal stayed around most of the day,  but kept its distance whenever Martha was let out

The mourning doves huddled together in the sun,  but were soon under attack…..

One flew into our diningroom window when this Cooper’s hawk flew in (I think the dove escaped)

I spent the day catching up on the laundry,  George wrapped presents,  and I managed to get a second batch of Christmas cookies underway.   Yesterday I made the snowball cookies that I remember from my early Christmases,  and today I made George’s childhood favorite,   date pinwheel cookies.

I was chopping dates and walnuts as Morgan and Albert flew across Iowa at 452 miles an hour.

George and I sat down together just before two o’clock this afternoon, to watch their plane near the airport in Seattle.  A few minutes later the site notified us that they had touched down.   With all the winter weather across the country this weekend, we were anxious to know they were safely there.   I was back in the kitchen a few minutes later when a text message came on my phone from Morgan to confirm their arrival.

George plugged in our Christmas lights early in the day,  and with all the wrapping and baking,  we longed for some new Christmas music.   We agreed on a music box selection,  both of us reminiscing about a shop at the mall near the college we both attended many years ago.   I remember Faudree’s as a feast for the senses…..beautiful music,  smells,  and items for sale.   We rarely bought anything, but I loved to go in and hear the music box selection on the symphonium.    With a little search and click,  we downloaded our music into my iTunes,  and the sound took me back thirty-some years,  before calculators,  computers,  cell phones, or the ability to track an air flight in real time.

Tonight the wind is howling, and the furnace is working overtime to keep us warm.   We have another weather alert for the morning,  this time a windchill advisory.   The cats have the right idea….snuggle up!     Winter is definitely here.

George was off on a bus run before daybreak,  so I was up early and out filling the bird feeders as the sun came up.   I pulled on my heavy coat, boots and gloves,  and trudged down the snow-covered back steps and out through the snow.  It snowed off and on all day,  so that my footprints have partially filled in.

We have about 6 inches on the ground now, with more expected tomorrow.     Tonight it is 9 degrees,  and the next storm is supposed to move in during the night.    I ran my weekend errands today,  so that we can stay in tomorrow.   It should be another good birdwatching day.

only one goldfinch stopped by today…..

there were 8 juncos at one point,  and they scavenged for seed wherever they could find it….

the chickadees enjoyed George’s homemade suet…..

the blue jays come for the peanuts,  and disappear when the peanuts are gone……

a red-bellied woodpecker…..I hadn’t seen one here in a couple of years….

it took many shots to really capture the red on his head!

School was canceled today for the second Friday in a row.   There was no snow on the ground when the calls went out at 5:00 a.m,  but by nine o’clock,  the fine,  slick stuff was coming down.    George drove me to work,  and came for me at the end of my workday.   Fortunately we only live a mile from my workplace.   My co-workers, who live twenty or more miles from work,  found their commutes home quite treacherous.

I had a great idea for George’s Christmas present.    I decided this was the year that I would buy him a garage door opener.   We aren’t getting any younger,  and the idea of having the door open by remote control beats getting out of the car each time,  and taking the weight of the door on our shoulders.

I kept my eyes on the sales fliers,  and when there was a good price on a door opener,  George headed out and bought one.  That was before Thanksgiving.

He assembled the basics,  then realized that we needed an electrical connection before setting it up.   We hired a friend who is an electrician,  and he came by today to install the box and wiring we needed.

I got a call at work late this afternoon,  and Paul told me that he had been ready to hook up the unit when he realized that there is not enough clearance between the open door and the ceiling!    I believed him,  but it didn’t make sense that neighbors with similar houses had had garage door openers for years.

When George and I got home from work,  we met in the garage and saw the problem for ourselves.    When we bought the house twenty-two years ago,  there was just plywood on the ceiling of the garage,  and our loan company insisted that sheetrock be put up to cover it.   That lowered the height of the ceiling,  and there is our problem.

Now we have to decide if it is worth cutting into sheetrock and plywood to make the channel that we need,  having no idea what kind of task that will turn out to be.   Then we would need to seal everything back up to meet fire code.  Hmmm……

We need to think about this.

Yesterday we shipped packages to Durham and Seattle,  stopped for a quick lunch,  then went looking for our tree.   We arrived at the tree farm late in the afternoon,  as the sun was lowering in the sky,  so we just did a quick look-through,  and chose a good-sized tree.   We had talked about getting something a little smaller,  but there weren’t many choices at that time of day.   Now that it is up and decorated,  it seems a perfect fit.   George strung the lights after dinner,  and I placed the decorations,  reminiscing with each one.   No two ornaments are the same on our tree,  many are homemade,  and each has a special significance spanning our thirty-seven Christmases together.    I love this time of year,  when I can gaze upon a little nutcracker,  angel,  or cross-stitched ornament and be carried away on a memory of Christmases past.

There is a certain peace and contentment tonight,  as I look around our house and see the little adornments of Christmases past.   Each item that I pulled out of the decoration box has its story.   Family surrounds me as I place each one.    George brought up five boxes from the basement,  all labeled “Christmas”,  but I knew a box was still missing…..

Garrett drew these pictures when he was eight years old.   He loved to draw,  and his inspiration was a set of ornaments we had acquired and hung on the tree.   I found the pictures tucked away in an overlooked box in our side room downstairs,  waiting to take their place on the refrigerator where they were first displayed fifteen years ago.

This one was presented to me at 8:37 p.m. on December 17, 1993

And this one was presented to me on December 19, 1993 at 5:39 p.m.

true Christmas treasures…..

Thursday night into Friday morning the snow came down.   George had a call at 4:50 a.m. telling him school had been canceled for the day.   He had to make phone calls,  and I tried to get back to sleep for a little bit.   My work day went on as scheduled.

I took this photo out our front window Thursday evening before bed.

Friday morning before daybreak,  George revved up the snowblower,  and cleaned out the driveway.

Out back,  the snow still coming down…

When the snow stopped,  the feeders posed a challenge for the birds

Friday night at moonrise…..

and this morning I shoved an old roaster pan lid out the back door,  with an offering of seed that this junco appreciated

I’m enjoying the snow while it’s here.    Temps are due to rise into the 50’s on Monday!

When I left the house this morning,   I was thinking that it would be nice to have some snow.   I think I got my wish tonight!    After work there was enough snow on the car to need to pull out my snow brush.

The holiday concert we had planned to attend was canceled,  but we decided to keep to our plan of dinner out.  We headed out for some excellent pizza at a little restaurant in the square in town.   We were the only customers when we first arrived,  but a few more people straggled in as we ate.

The large glass windows look out onto the square,  and I found it entertaining to watch the people and traffic as I enjoyed my pizza.   Little trees around the square were lit with Christmas lights.   UPS trucks,  and FedEx trucks whizzed around the corners,  probably on Christmas deliveries.    Pedestrians walked with their heads down to avoid the heavy snowfall in their faces.  And a woman walked by with her baby under cover of a blanket,  except for one little stockinged foot I could see poking out.   An emergency vehicle passed through with lights flashing and siren blaring.   I could see a few drivers struggling to get traction as they crossed the square.    I was glad to be warm inside,  with good food,  and a good driver to get us home safely.

Four hours later,  the snow is still coming down,  with 4 to 7 inches expected overnight.  We don’t get the snows that we used to, so I think I will enjoy the novelty of this one.