I got up thinking today was Monday, so it's almost like I have gained an extra day. I know - it's not a good sign, but I've been working on a writing project that has been all-consuming and I truly lose track of time when I'm in that mode. I'm back on track now - have been watching Sunday Morning on CBS, but now need to get back to work.

We've been expecting this, but still I was surprised when Fred told me this morning there was a fisherman on the ice in back of the islands. Sure, we've had one or two near zero nights, but that wouldn't convince me the ice was safe. I suppose once you've gone out without breaking through and drill a hole, you can say for sure it's ok, but it wouldn't be high on my priority list to go out there and sit. Especially not today. There's a pretty decent snowstorm gearing up right now. It started a couple of hours ago and when I looked out to see if the fisherman was still there (he was) I noticed the wind has picked up out of the southeast and some of the snow is coming at us at an almost horizontal plane.

We have quite a bit of snow - I'll measure tomorrow not only the new snow but also the total depth. I am going to try to measure the depth weekly for CoCoRaHS and decided Monday would be a good day to do it. I'll probably get out my snowshoes for that - I'll need to take several measurements and average the findings. This is such an inexact "science" it gets comical sometimes, but the folks out at the university in Colorado say it's important . . .

I took this picture a few minutes ago of the trees in our back yard. I was going to get some boughs (I'm a little behind making swags and wreaths!) but time got away from me yesterday and now there's going to be a lot of snow to get through, but I may go out later anyway. Once I'm out there it's great fun, but hard to make the initial move.

Billy Rossi joined us for supper last night. Diane went to see an opera at Catamount Arts. We were having a rare meatloaf with baked potatoes - a favorite of mine I just suddenly had to have. Bill said meatloaf is his favorite, although I think I've heard him say that before about other foods, so he probably was just being a polite guest. Both Bill and Fred are on "diets" - no salt and no sugar added to anything. For dessert I gave them baked apples stuffed with raisins, cinnamon and nuts - no sugar. I admit it wasn't bad, but I did kind of miss that nice brown sugar sweetness. There was a day when baked apples meant all of the above plus maple syrup and whipped cream . . .

I had an interesting e-mail from a woman who went to school in East Cabot years ago. Her family owned a farm there and through mutual friends she found out about the JP website and the blog. It was very interesting to put together the pieces from so long ago. I'd never known her personally, but knew who she was and of course we know many people in common.

I guess I'll go check on the fisherman once more and then get back to work.