We've played hide and seek with the turkeys all day.  They were at the apple trees early this morning and at 9 o'clock I completely forgot about them and went out to measure the snow for CoCoRaHS.  The minute I opened the door onto the deck I heard a rumble that at first I thought was the town plow truck coming up West Shore Road; then I realized it was a dozen or so turkeys all taking flight at once.  I was sorry I forgot to look for them, I could have delayed a bit, but they were back within an hour or so, scratching in the snow under the trees.  

At noon Fred managed to leave quietly enough so they were undisturbed, but when he got to Jamie and Marie's he frightened off a couple near their bird feeder.  I think one of those flew down here, directly over our house.  I was working at the computer when movement caught my eye and there was this huge turkey flying out of the woods outside my office window right towards me.  It could have landed on the house - I really don't know.  It was a really big bird and I had a fine view of its underbelly.  I went out soon after to take my walk, and they were all gone.  I think that fly-over probably upset the whole bunch.

After lunch there were two back under the tree when Fred went out to snow blow the driveway.  They ran down the lawn and into the woods as soon as they heard him shoveling by our garage, so there wasn't any panic that time.  They spent most of the late afternoon here again and we had nothing going on to disturb them.  They don't pay any attention to Woody when he sits in the window and glares at them.  I guess they know he's inside and harmless.

We got another four inches of snow overnight and during today, and it's been in the 20s.  It's going to be much colder this weekend, so whatever's frozen now will likely stay frozen.  No three times freezing over at the pond this year, I'm guessing.  

It's hard to believe Christmas is less than two weeks away.  It always happens this way - I think I have plenty of time and then suddenly it's Christmas Eve.  I started making plans early and have nearly everything finished, but it turns out I won't have much free time that week before, so I need to get everything done this week, including making Christmas cookies.  Some years I don't do cookies, but I hope to this year so I will have some for Christmas Eve with the family.  In the meantime, I have a bunch of other non-Christmas projects to finish, and some Ice-Out tickets to get in the mail tomorrow for a gal in Panton, Vermont who has been buying Ice-Out tickets every year for as long as I can recall.  I love it when people want them to use for Christmas gifts.  It could turn out to be a really big gift, like $5,000!