We are in winter mode, but not a lot of snow is expected, at least not right away. Yesterday was overcast much of the day, and the thermometer didn't get out of the teens. We were in Burlington - for me to see retina specialist, Dr. Kim for my macular degeneration - and we were surprised that there's not much snow around at all up there. It was just as cold there as it was here, though. 
     Today is not much warmer, but we did have bright sunshine at the start of the day. The temperature has risen a bit - it's 20 degrees now and we're expecting snow momentarily. However, it was really nice to have sunshine, even with lot temps. Our cat, Woody, seems to equate sunshine with going outside, and wants to test every door to the outside to see if one of them leads to warmer weather. He was such a bother I finally had to put him down cellar for a while in order to get any peace. He uses a low, guttural howl sometimes - often outside our bedroom door when he wants to come in - and that was what he was doing today. He has a little Siamese blood in him, and it shows up in that howl, I think. Very irritating, but it does get our attention. Not only that, but every time I opened any door at all, he raced to go through it. He came sliding around the dining room table and crashed into a chair leg when he though I was going to open the back door, and I lost count of the number of times he came racing into the kitchen as I was trying to get morning work done - every time he thought he heard a door opening. I let him out numerous times, but each time it was too cold, of course, so he was back within minutes, knocking to come in. After twenty minutes or so in the cellar, he calmed down and spent some time gazing longingly out the window from his bench in the living room. I think the squirrels were active today and that may be part of what got him going. Or maybe it was a turkey. Hard to tell. Usually he sniffs the cold air and backs away, but today he seemed to have a mission outside, but it was too cold for him to accomplish it.
     I heard from Dave Parker that he got his snow machine out of the pond right away - last Monday, actually. He said he had a dive team retrieve it. Our resident diver, Jim Bernotas, had offered to help if needed when he got back here in the spring, but I suspect the sooner something like that is retrieved, the better - for the machine and for the lake environment. We're all just happy Dave wasn't hurt.
      Fred is making good progress. He went with me to Burlington for my eye appointment yesterday, and drove me home. Because I have both eyes dilated and have a shot in one, alternating each time I go, it's usually an hour or so before I would feel confident to drive. Fred made it just fine, but was very tired when we got home. We had taken a short run to Marty's on Monday to see how it would go, driving for the first time since the operation, and it went fine, so he wanted to give going with me a try. Of course, this would be the time the doctor was running behind schedule and I had a two hour wait to see him. Because there is so much flu going around, Fred waited in the car. The waiting room was very crowded, so I'm sure it was a wise decision for him to not go in with me. He said he had a nice nap while waiting for me.
     We hadn't been over the new section of Route 2 by Goodrich's Sugar House for a while, so it was a surprise to see how much the road has been elevated. That stretch is through a cedar swamp with a brook meandering through, and I expect it was a good decision to raise the road in case the brook floods. Once the bridge is finished by Folsom's barn, that stretch of highway will be greatly improved. There have been many accidents there over the years, and during the flood, "Irene," the bridge was seriously compromised, and a  temporary bridge was installed. The new one will be a huge improvement.
     Thank you all for your continued interest in Fred's progress. We are keeping a low profile because he needs lots of rest and we also don't want to bump into any nasty flu bugs. But he's exercising regularly, eating better and making progress each day, so in a couple of months he should be close to feeling normal.