Well, here it is; full-blown, deep winter. Yet, other areas of the country have experienced way more of it and colder, at that. Still, it was cold enough that Toby Tiger Tom is living in the upstairs bathroom. His back porch hidey-hole in the wire crate covered in several blankets with a warmer underneath couldn't overcome the minus temps and wind. He was in there shivering so Keoni helped me cart the cat and paraphernalia upstairs. He was purring so loudly you could hear him through the door. Toby's enemy Karma Kittie sits outside the bathroom glaring steadily at the crack under the door. So much for socialization.

My car is back! Happy dancing. It seems just like new again. I'm still spooked driving along Ridge Road and any other wooded or brushy sections of roadway. Still, I wonder if vigilance does any good since the deer seem to materialize right in front of you though I did see another panicked one just in time and could stop; at that moment it disappeared through a roadside hedge. Someone told me today that there are more deer here now than when the continent belonged to the Indians. Small wonder when you think that there are probably 2000% fewer predators to dine on them; except, of course, the two-legged varieties. Deer hunting has been extended here from about two weeks in the fall to a September into December season.

The snow of last week was powder. Aidan strove to make snowballs and they all granulated in the wind. He finally figured out how to get the stuff together enough to make a snowman; something about lying on your belly and scooping it together with your arms. Here is the result…

Alas, he is now snow melt.

I got some walks in, though passed it up yesterday since it was single digits with heavy winds. Lots of the snow melt is frozen everywhere making walking treacherous.

Still, there is something wonderful finding how the landscape is altered with the changes that each day brings. Our living Earth.

Pasture grasses after the snow melted.

Along the fence row.