First Light at the Feeder

 

I know I'm suppose to tell people 10 minutes before the library closes that they need to go but I don't.  I wait until closing time, let them know, and while I'm doing closing tasks they can wrap up what they are doing.  That happened last night so I was a good fifteen minutes late for the town board meeting that starts at 7 p.m.  Not a problem.  I'd looked at the agenda on-line and two things I wanted to be at the meeting for were towards the end. The board was still going through correspondence when I arrived.   Seemed more begging letters from various organizations than usual.  Then came the first item of interest to me: the board needs to OK the list of potential poll workers for the next two years.  We had a pool of 12 which is the goal I had set but I couldn't resist whispering to Neighbor Vern who was sitting ahead of me that I could still get his name on the list.  Vern let me know that wasn't necessary.  The second item of interest was the Planning Committee Report delivered by Committee Chairman Roger.  The board OK'd every thing we'd suggested in our meeting.  Unfortunately they also want us to add something to the driveway/culvert ordinance.  Seems too many driveways are not being taken care of and allowing the water on the driveway to flow onto the roadway insead of into the ditches.  The board wants to have a process to enforce keeping water from washing out a road.  Not sure how to phrase that but I'll do my usual thing and search other town's ordinances to see if any of them address this situation.  Why reinvent when you can build on what already works?

The Plow Guy Cometh

The TV station that stopped transmitting during the storm last night was back on this morning.  I sat in bed and watched the strip of cancellations at the bottom of the newcast.  Abbotsford, Alma, Altoona, Amery, Arcadia, Ascension, Augusta ... took a while but finally the local school's name was there.   It was officially a 'snow day'. On our morning constitutional it looked like another five inches - hard to tell when it's drifting.   Whip was bounding around in it up to her belly.   Deep enough in the driveway that I wasn't going anywhere until the snow plow guy came.   I looked out to where the truck had been stuck last night.  Couldn't see anything.  Turned out though it was just covered w/ snow.   Late in the morning a wrecker pulled it out of the ditch.  Good day for crockpot steak w/ onions and peppers - got that started.  Wrapped a gift.  Worked on some more Christmas cards.  Started an experiment.  (What's winter w/o an experiment or two going?)  Hung out a small platform feeder and put mealworms in it.  During the summer it should be a big draw for the insect eaters but most of those species have migrated.  Was curious if any of the remaining birds would go for the dead insects.  Around 2 p.m. Whip began to bark.  Plow guy was here!  I took a shower and jumped in the car to get a few errands out of the way.  By the time I got back the house smelled of crockpot steak.   Not bad but not one of my better efforts - think it will taste better tomorrow.

County Snowplow coming through this morning

 

When Whip and I walked out the front door for our nightly constitutional I could see car lights shining at the end of the driveway.  I couldn't see a car but could hear an engine being revved and whine of tires spinning in snow.   Top of a hill is a funny place to get stuck.    I had my phone so went out to check what was going on.  It was a truck in the ditch.   The back lights of the truck illuminated it's tracks.  He'd been driving in the ditch on the wrong side of the road for as far as I could see.  The truck had stopped because my driveway blocks the ditch and the ditch is too deep to be able to just drive out.  The first flakes of the latest snowstorm were starting.   I couldn't see in the truck so knocked on the passenger side window.  Took a couple of tries before the driver answered, " Yah?"  I asked if he had a phone and had called for help.  He said he had called his buddy who would pull him out.   Couldn't think of anything else I could do to help him.  "OK, as long as you've got someone coming." and I went back to my place.  I checked out my window a short time later and there was a car that looked like it might be trying to pull the truck out ... but not succeeding.   I called the sheriff.  I explained what I'd seen and said maybe a deputy should evaluate the situation.  Was surprised how quickly the deputy arrived.  Eventually the car that looked like it was trying to help left and then the deputy's car slowly drove off too.  Funny thing is it looked like the lights of the truck in the ditch were still on.   I looked out my front door a couple more times.   The last time I checked the lights were gone.   Either the truck was pulled out, the truck's battery died, or the snow was coming down too heavy to see that far.  I'm not walking out to see which it is.   I'll either find out tomorrow or maybe it will make the Sheriff's Report.

Gibbous Moon and Jupiter

Excerpts from the Sheriff's Report: 

10:34 a.m. - Caller reporting a male that came to her residence.  He was told to leave and then he pulled out a knife and punctured the rear tire of her vehicle as he walked away.  12:58 p.m. - Officer spoke with male about calls on him in the last 24 hours.  He denied puncturing the tire, said it was flat when he was at the house this morning.  He was given his phone back and was asked to return to Sheriff's Office to speak with a deputy. 

12:08 p.m. - Post Office worker requests a welfare check for a female that has mail piling up since mid-October.  Officer spoke with neighbor who believes she is out of the area.

12:12 p.m. - Issues with vehicles blocking traffic.  Related to the turkey giveaway.

12:30 p.m. - Deputy observed an ATV in the middle of the street with a male standing next to it.  Upon turning around the ATV was gone.  Deputy followed dust cloud into alley and located it with the driver.  ATV hadn't been registered since 2018 and the driver caused damage in the alley by spinning his tires.  Driver cited for non-registered ATV and without a valid driver's license.

2:26 p.m. - Turkey giveaway event causing traffic to back up.

2:44 p.m. - City officer participated in an elementary school assembly

3:10 p.m. - Caller reporting damage to a gate on county forest land.  Angle grinder was taken to a lock box blocking a non-motorized vehicle trail.  Deputy will take photos of the damage and follow up.

4:03 p.m. - Caller reporting a tractor pulling a trailer house, blocking the intersection.  Giant rut was left in road.  Trailer house was pulled by tractor without wheels.  Deputy in contact with tractor driver.  They are fixing the road and any other damage they caused.  

6:24 p.m. - Complainant reporting he has drones that have been following him for the past two months.  He is at the ball diamond at the school.  Complainant will be driving around the area to show that the drone is following him.  Deputy reports it appears the lights the complainant is seeing are stars.  

7:04 p.m. - Gas station workers reporting a female sleeping in her car with a sign on the windshield stating something about Donald Trump and Princess Diana.  Officer spoke with female who denied she had any issues with gas station workers and admitted putting up the sign.  She was told to leave the property and not return.

7:47 p.m. - Caller reporting what looks like a small child walking on their dead-end road.  Caller called back and said it was an elderly lady.  She is fine.

8:59 p.m. - Complainant requests a check welfare on a female that is living in an ice shack in her yard.  It blew over last night.  Deputy in contact.  Female is inside of structure with electricity and heat.  DHHS to follow up.

10:55 p.m. - Caller reporting fire in a field.  Village Fire Department responded.  DNR Fire paged but no answer.  Village Fire Department said they're not needed unless they want to try to determine the cause.

A Downy and A Hairy

The household has fallen into the usual December morning routine.  The alarm goes off and I turn over in bed 'cause the bed is toasty warm.  Whip will jump on the bed and begin licking my face if I fall back asleep.  She won't be deterred until we are out on our morning constitutional.  Once back in the foyer, I pick up the bird food containers and it's back out to fill the bird feeders.  Back inside again Whip stops at the corner of the kitchen counter where her treat jar sits.  We do a 'trick for a treat' sequence until she misses at a trick.   I grab a handful of cat treats and call for them.  Dunder jumps up the library shelves to where I usually leave his treats.  Blitzen leaps onto a pillow I have next to the computer where I put her treats.  She will eat and then settle down on the pillow to watch me.  I sign onto the computer and access an on-line Advent Calendar.  Breakfast can wait until I find an elusive elf and play the new game for the day.

It's not terribly useful when bird descriptions say something like "the species look identical except one is larger than the other."  Both species aren't usually together at the same time so a comparison can be made.  An exception was at my suet feeder today.  Both a hairy and a downy were there to feed.  The Downy is the smaller one waiting it's turn.  Also note that while in both species the male and female are similar in coloring, it's only the males of both that sport a red patch on the nape of their neck.

Ski Hill Is Almost Ready

  Librarian Trevor was at the front desk on his own so was relieved when I arrived early for my volunteer stint.  He was evaluating the  children's book section and there was something like 30% of them hadn't been checked out in over five years.  He had made a pull list and if I had time I could work on that.    A lady came in to pick up her print-outs.   People can e-mail us a document to print and then come in later to the library to pick it up.  They do need to call to tell us to look for the e-mail so we know to print it.  She hadn't.   Found the document and printed it  At 15 cents a page the total came to $4.80.    She only had a credit card to pay w/ and we aren't equipped to handle those.  She left an IOU.   The 11 year old boy who likes to use the computer at the library after school stopped at the front desk.  He'd lost his library card and asked if he could have another.  I gave him a new card.  His brother came in and said he was wanted at home so he took off.   A couple of patrons checking out and/or returning books later, I saw the boy's new library card still sitting at the front desk where he'd left it.  A young man came in and asked if he could have a bag.  His arms were full of jerky sticks, potato chips, etc.  He said he had stopped by for food but couldn't carry all of it.    I'd noticed a tall enclosed case outside the library earlier in the week w/ the title "Nora's Cupboard".  Had looked it up on-line and found it was a 7x24 pantry anyone could put food in or take out - just nothing perishable.  I gave him a big sturdy bag and he asked if we wanted it back.  Told him it had been donated to us so we were donating it to him.  He seemed quite grateful.  The 4&5 year olds from the school's kindergarten had filled out library card applications and they were coming in Friday morning for them.    Trevor asked if I could set each one up in the computer and put each card in an envelope w/ the child's name on it.  Sure.  After finishing that, updating the stats, and some other tasks I was ready to work on the display cabinet.  Christmas in the Village is coming up on the 14th and Trevor wanted a Christmassy display.  I got out all of my  Hallmark ornaments I'd used on full-sized trees but couldn't use on my small live trees.  They looked pretty cute.  Needs something.more .. maybe some shiny little gold/red/green balls.  I'll bring them in later.  By the time I'd finished that it was time to close up.  Weeding out the children's books will have to be done by tomorrow's volunteers.

Sunrise

 It hasn't been above freezing for a couple of weeks.  Tonight the temps are going to drop below zero.  Decided it was a good time to take the painter's tape off Mjolnir's door.  I'd put it on in September when the fly count inside the apartment had begun to rise.  It worked - sort of.  Did have 400 that got in but that's way better than the 3,000 flies from the year before.  If there were flies hibernating in between the door and jamb, they would be very lethargic and when I brushed them outside they wouldn't have enough energy to make it back inside the building.  The tape came off fairly easily and I did find a few flies stuck to it.  When I opened up the door a confetti shower of flies fell down.  I used the car's snow brush to remove the flies still clinging to the door and jamb.   A lot of flies though, in truth, not as many as I'd feared.   The apartment temp is at 60 degrees right now and some of the flies that fell on the floor were beginning to wriggle and slowly move.  I got the broom, swept them up, and tossed them out into the snow before they could crawl away or take flight.  I'd been entering/exiting Mjolnir through it's garage doors since I'd taped the other shut.   Now I could leave the door opener in Jormungandr.  I didn't like keeping it in the basket near the front door in case it got knocked about and opened the garage door by mistake - OK in the summer, not so good in the winter.  Since I was outside anyway I walked over to Sleipnir and did my monthly watering of the flowers overwintered in there.  Checked that the building's inside temp was maintaining at 45 degrees. As I walked back to the house, I admired the practically full moon rising just above the belt of Venus.  Must be cold enhances all of the colors in the sky.

Moon Halo

 

Got to see a moon halo and moon beams tonight: a combination of an almost full moon and cold cold weather.  The halo around the moon is because of it's light shining off ice crystals in high cirrus clouds.  The cirrus clouds are thin and hardly noticeable at night.  The moon beams are just crepuscular rays -  like the rays you can see when the sun's light breaks through holes in an overcast sky.  At night though they are caused when the moon's ethereal light breaks through those high cirrus clouds and is augmented by the ice crystals in the air.

Went into the library to start setting up the display cabinets for Christmas.  The librarian was manning the front desk because the scheduled volunteer had an unexpected doctor's appointment.  Decided to relieve him of front desk duties for a couple of hours until the afternoon volunteer arrived.  That way I could finish up stats for November and ask the afternoon volunteer if she could work for me at Christmas in the Village.  Finished the stats plus got a 'yes' from the volunteer.  Now just have to find out if I'm actually on the list of volunteers for that day.

Shrike

I was watching a small group of blue jays at the feeders this morning.  The blue jays like the platform feeder for shelled sunflowers and forage underneath the tube feeder for unshelled ones.  Swooping in, a shrike dive bombed one of the jays on the ground.  The jay took notice but didn't bolt.  Probably knew that the shrike wouldn't actually attack him since he's the bigger bird.  I watched the shrike take up a position on the highest limb of a lilac bush.    It looked around for awhile before flying off for the tamarack on the other side of the house.    When I looked back the jays had gone.  Either had their fill of seeds or just don't like being around bullying shrikes.

Tonight was the Friends of the Library Christmas Meeting.  It's a short meeting followed by people putting together the two trees in the library and then we have pot luck finger food.  Everyone brings a small gift and we play games to see who ends up w/ which gift.  With everything going on I'm not sure if my name ended up on a list of Christmas in Bruce workers. Will ruin Neighbor Anita and my plans for shopping that day.

Hunting is Over

The plan for the day included church this morning.  When Whip and I walked the driveway this morning, an almost bare area ran the length of it (caused by the wind being directly out of the north).  Around the buildings though the snow had been swept into dunes.  Probably could power the car through them but decided to wait for the plow guy.  Getting stuck in one's own driveway is embarrassing.  A good reminder though that it's time to throw my heavy coat, boots, sleeping bag, and a shovel in the back of the car.   Friend Kathy texted that she was 2/3 finished w/ her Christmas cards.  Yikes!  I've bought mine but haven't begun.  First I cleaned off my desk. You know ... lower the entropy, increase the efficiency.  Second should have been get out the cards and access the list of recipients.  However, I hadn't yet written up and sent out minutes from the last town planning meeting and, now that I have access to update the town website, should double check that all of the minutes and agendas for the planning committee have been uploaded.  Put on an audio book to keep me company while I got to work.  It wasn't until 1 p.m. when Whip started barking.   The plow guy had arrived.  Little late for church but  a good time to take a break to bake cherry quick bread.  Always something to do.

Coconut Cake

 

Neighbor Anita invited me over for coffee this afternoon and a special treat.  Seems a lady, originally from Cyprus, used to babysit Anita's granddaughter.  Yia-yia, as she was known, is now retired to Cyprus but her children are making a cookbook of her recipes.  As part of that process, they make each item so it can be photographed.  Anita's daughter, Bridget, came for Thanksgiving and left one of the delicacies Yia-yia was known for - coconut cake.  Makes a delicious moist cake and Anita had additional toasted coconut flakes (with just a touch of orange zest) for a topping.   A surprise dessert for my drawn-out Thanksgiving feast.  Even better, could eat it while gossiping w/ Anita.

Happy Thanksgiving

Sister Connie texted me a pic of our grandmother's china set out for Thanksgiving dinner.  She said instead of keeping it in storage it would be better to use it.   The china is quite pretty and gives off a soft creamy glow. She noted that her granddaughters Callie and Sasha will be eating off their great-great-grandmother's dishes.  (I suddenly feel way older.)

My own Thanksgiving was filet mignon which is much easier to prepare than a turkey and includes no waste (much to Whip's dismay).  A quick browning on all sides in a fry pan and then popped into a covered dish in the oven to finish.  While that was cooking I made a bearnaise sauce.  Paired it all w/ a baked potato and peas.  Perfection (if I do say so myself.)

Watching the Snowstorm

Last night was the monthly Town Planning Committee meeting.  Since it's during Gun Deer Season, Chairman Roger sent out an e-mail ahead of time to make sure we'd have a quorum.  One permit from a guy that had put in a building a year ago.  I think he was well aware that he needed a permit from the town but we gave him the benefit of the doubt and OK'd the permit.  The next item was, interestingly enough, to discuss what penalties to impose on those after-the-act permit requests.  The impetus was the timber cutting temporary driveway requests we get (or don't get) like the one earlier this autumn.  The Town Board hadn't imposed any penalty on the forester.  The company's forester said our process wasn't fast enough.  (Takes about a month).   There already are penalties in the building and driveway ordinances for that kind of infraction.  First the group suggested changing the wording in all of the individual building and driveway ordinances and directing them to the existing ordinance imposing fines so there wouldn't be any discrepancy and make it easier to change amounts in the future.  Second, the group will suggest to the Board that if someone wants an immediate OK for a permit, they can foot the bill for an special Planning Committee and Town Board Meeting - even if their request is ultimately refused.  

Today is the second course of Thanksgiving Dinner: the salad course.  This salad is made up of colorful red leaf and bib lettuce, tangy feta cheese, sweet dried cranberries, and crunchy sugared walnuts.  Might cut back on the cooking shows.  Am beginning to emulate their language.

Mjolnir's front door

The forecast is for snow tonight - potentially quite a bit.  Time to take a look around the compound to see what last minute things needed to be attended to.  Still had the extra fixin's for porch pots laying outside near the door.  I had picked up tall red stuff yesterday on my errands so used that and the rest of the evergreens.  Placed them outside the door to Mjolnir.  Seemed to me it could use something more.  Mother Nature will add the white stuff.  Maybe a bow?  Picked up the outside mat in front of Mjolnir's door.  Will put it back in place when someone is going to stay there.  I moved together the chairs on the deck.  Winter winds can be strong and I didn't want it sweeping furniture off onto the lawn.  Brought in  a solar light that I had out by Ragnarök.  Might lose it in the winds/snow - I'll find a more secure place for during the winter.

I watched an aerial fight/flight between two birds out by the feeders.  I thought it was jay giving a little goldfinch a hard time.  Then realized the aggressor was a bit too small, not blue enough, and more maneuverable than a jay.  It was a shrike ... and it wanted goldfinch for breakfast.  The bare lilac bushes weren't quite enough cover for the goldfinch but the little bird managed to make it to the nearby arrowwood bush that still held it's leaves.  The shrike poked around but finally gave up and flew off.  Must have been a ruse known to the goldfinch  'cause it stayed put in it's safe place.  A minute or so and the shrike came back, flittered around the arrowwood bush before giving up and flying off to the Gorge.

I didn't have a burning desire to go to the store for food.  The threat of winter storms usually has that effect on people.  Probably because I'd been grocery shopping just yesterday and had picked up plenty for over Thanksgiving.  I'll be doing Thanksgiving on my own so will spread it out over the rest of the week.  The soup course is today - Spicy Corn.