Today has been pretty nice, in spite of some snow still on the ground. Our overnight low was not too bad - 25.3. Today it got up to almost 50 degrees, but only for a short time and it's on the way down again now.

We had a very nice red fox walk across our front lawn this morning. I happened to be looking out the big window, but there wasn't time to get the camera. He looked very healthy and seemed to be in no particular hurry. Our cat, Woody, spied him right away and watched carefully until the fox was out of sight in the woods on the lower side of our property. We know foxes will take a cat if they can, and worry when Woody is outside, but it appears Woody recognizes the danger, too. We haven't seen many foxes around in the past few years.

I had been looking with the binoculars at the marsh by Bill Hamilton's this morning. There was some "cat ice" showing there, and seemed to be a long finger of ice stretching down that far shore. It did get pretty cold just before we got the snow, so no surprise that some of the shallower coves had some ice.

Here's an interesting bit - Pam Hebert ran in the half-marathon and won first place in her category, women age 61-69. Congratulations, Pam! This was the fourth annual Kingdom Challenge Road Race that takes place between Lyndonville and St. Johnsbury. A half-marathon is 13.1 mi. A long run, in my estimation, but for Pam it was probably an easy workout. We often see her trotting through West Danville on the rail trail. I think Joe does some running, too, and may have been in the men's division Saturday.

I haven't heard anything about the stray kitten Joyce Rogers contacted us about last evening. Sure hope she found the owner or someone who will take good care of her. Poor little thing. Joyce said she was trying hard to get in their front door, so she was apparently pretty desperate to get in out of the wet and cold last night.

We heard from Fred's brother, Tom, in Laconia, NH yesterday. They got 18 inches of snow. In a few weeks Tom and Ella will be heading for Colorado for the winter. Tom is a ski instructor at a resort out there. I believe this storm dumped a lot more than 18 inches in Colorado before it got here, so there should be a pretty good base for skiing by the time Tom and Ella arrive.

The south facing hills around the pond are nearly bare again, but we still have quite a bit on the ground on our side of the pond. Fred went to recycle in Wolcott today and got this picture out in Walden where they usually get a little more snow than we do here. Look at that sky, though. Hardly a cloud, but as the day has progressed, more clouds formed and right now the sun is completely obscured. I don't think we're going to get more snow, but with the cloud cover, the temperature probably won't go quite as low.

This picture isn't what you might think at first glance. The cheerful guy behind bars is actually Postmaster Garey Larrabee, and the post office is in one end of Hastings Store, owned by Garey and his family. Besides taking good care of our mail, Garey also knows his way around the bakery at the back of the store. He is up early in the morning whipping up doughnuts, muffins, cookies, cakes and pies to sell in the store - then he heads into the little post office cubicle to sort mail, usually with a cup of hot coffee and a warm just-out-of-the-oven muffin. I'm betting he has lots of company these cold, snowy mornings. Coffee and a muffin are just the ticket for the commute to work. Breakfast on the go. Great way to start the day.