Saturday, 5 December -- Tree's up and snow's down

We got the Christmas tree out yesterday and got it up. It's not decorated yet, but with all 750 of the pre-lit bulbs, it almost looks as if it is. It's one of those hinged-branch trees, so we put it in the stand and all the branches fell into place except the top section which we had to manipulate by hand.

Snow last night, about 1/2 inch, but the scanner was SOOO busy this morning with reports of accidents all over the place. People still drive (as they do in Maine) like it's July, only down here the roads are narrow, people laugh at speed limits (55 on the narrow, curvy country roads), and nearly everyone has a cell phone attached to his or her ear. Danville called out the salt AFTER the snow turned to ice, and after 7 cars went off the Bypass (US-150/127)!

But it's all gone now except in the shady areas like in back of the house, and even most of that is barely hanging on. The birds must have realized it was snow because they were all over the feeders. Our dark-eyed juncos are back -- they summer in northern Canada and winter here. They look like little gray birds dipped in white chocolate -- at least that's what the cat thinks when he sits on the window sill trying to get at them. They just laugh at him...