Here is an update on our winter storm. It has been seriously downgraded. I'm listening to the reports on the scanner, and road crews are being instructed to take a break now that the snow has tapered off, and report back in 3-4 hours. They expect more snow tonight, but not nearly as much as originally anticipated. This is a picture from our kitchen window at around 9 a.m. when it was snowing pretty hard.

I measured 7 inches at 9 o'clock this morning, and it looks as if we've had only perhaps another couple of inches. Fred has been out a couple of times to keep the driveways clear, but the town plow didn't come until around noon. We were all wondering if they'd broken down, but I guess they were just waiting until there was enough snow to make the trip worthwhile. In the meantime, traffic was moving, slowly, and mostly 4-wheel drive rigs.

None of us had to go out, although Marie left before the call from her office came that she didn't need to go in; Jamie said there were cancellations at KATV so he wasn't going in, and I'm guessing the rest of the neighborhood did what they had to, but most stayed home if they didn't need to go out. The road was pretty quiet. Still is.

Now the reports on the scanner from road crews are about sleet south of St. Johnsbury, so it looks as if things are changing a bit. There is freezing rain in the Rutland and Mendon Mountain area. Here the temperature is still reading 20 degrees, so we may not get the sleet. It isn't doing much of anything for the moment.

Every now and then when I unload the pictures from the camera, I get a surprise. This was one of those times. Fred had apparently snapped a picture of me sometime this morning. I had no idea he was in the vicinity. When I'm working at my desk, I've asked Fred to make noise when he approaches, otherwise I'm often taken by surprise. So he usually stamps up the hallway so I'll know he's coming. Not this time. You can see my "peeping Tom" thermometer that is just outside my office window. When Fred first put it up for me, every so often I'd be startled, thinking someone was looking in the window from the deck, thus the "peeping Tom" label.

I don't know where our cat, Woody, was when the picture was taken - he is usually on the desk beside me, but I think he was nursing a bruised ego. Earlier, when Fred was out snow blowing, heard a rumpus in the bedroom and was surprised to find the clothes closet door closed and a pair of Fred's pants that had been hanging on the partially open folding doors on the floor. When I opened the doors, I found a pile of shirts and pants on the floor. At first there was no sign of Woody, but when I cleared away the clothing, he was sitting in the back of the closet, looking bewildered. I knew then what had happened. He'd tried to jump up onto the high shelf and in the process had not only brought down several pairs of folded work pants, but had also brought down several shirts, hangers and all, and managed to close the doors on himself so he couldn't get out. A jump that high would normally be easy for him, but the partly open folded door must have gotten in the way. After a moment he bolted out of the closet and I didn't see him again until almost noon. I think he's recovered his composure now - he just paid me a short visit, demanding his favorite space in front of the computer screen.

The snow seems to be picking up a bit, but still isn't as heavy as expected. And that's a good thing.