We just came back from the two building sites on Sandy Beach Road. It's a dull day, but not awfully cold - not quite at 50 degrees yet, but as long as one keeps moving, it isn't bad at all. There isn't much wind, and that helps. We heard and saw geese moving over the pond, probably taking off after resting here during the night.

The LaGue site is coming along. Carpenters were there and Jack was working with them, getting things leveled, he said, ready for the new construction on the existing, relatively new, foundation. We were impressed at how well the whole site was cleaned up of debris. After a tear-down like that yesterday, you'd expect to have a real mess, but aside from some small wood chips, there didn't seem to be much left to clean up, inside or out. Of course, we got there well after work had begun this morning, so perhaps that's why everything looked in good shape. That's Jack on the phone, working from home regardless of no roof over his head . . .

Down the road at the Gagne site, work is progressing on the second story level. I had expected trusses to be getting put up, but they obviously aren't ready for that step yet. Dave Lavely had indicated there are lots of angles, jogs and pitches in the architect's plans. From what we can tell, it will be a interesting design.

We have one stubborn maple - one of the ones we got as a twig several years ago - that stays green and doesn't drop its leaves like normal ones do. We got a bunch of maples, I think seven in all, each a different variety. One was the bunchy one we transplanted a few weeks ago and set in one of our local sugar maples, and I have no clue what the others are. They are along the side of our driveway, each with its own appearance and habits. This one just hangs on way past most and doesn't seem to change colors much.

Speaking of hanging on, our crab apple tree always has lots of apples throughout the winter, providing squirrels and birds with a great source of food until spring. The turkeys usually visit in the fall, too, and often we'll see a deer there, sometimes standing on hind feet to reach up and get the little apples. They are still a nice red now, but after a good frost will be almost black - but there is still food value there, apparently.