While I was in Boston with Fred, Mary Whitcomb sent some very nice photos. She is very clever with her camera, and has a lot of wildlife near her home. Mary said she was amazed one morning to watch a beautiful Red Fox chasing one of her big grey squirrels all over her lower lawn, but never catching it.  She managed to get a great shot of the fox and sent the picture to Bryan Pfeiffer . He used it on his website where he discussed point and shoot cameras. 
     Mary is busy and watchful. She also got some great shots of unusual birds - a Cooper's  Hawk high in a birch tree in the top photo, well camouflaged. With some zoom, she got a closeup, below.  Click on the images to make them larger. 
     Below the hawk pictures are to more unusual specimens. She said she thought it might be a Snowy Bunting, but Bryan Pfeiffer identified it as a leucistic American Goldfinch. Here's Mary's story:

On January 8, I spotted a Cooper’s Hawk in the tallest tree behind my house (see it in top of tree in first pic) and in the 2nd pic, I zoomed in so much that it’s a “grainy” one, but wanted to see it better.  Then on the morning of the 18th, it was back.  It hung out for almost 2 hours in that tall tree & didn’t bother the birds eating on my deck and feeders.  You can imagine how surprised I was to actually see it land at 2:30 p.m. in the crab apple tree about 15’ from my living room window later that day!!!   . . . All this week, instead of my usual 6 to 8 Goldfinches, I’ve had about 50 of them & they eat a lot of sunflower seeds.  Yesterday, I had 2 more exciting surprises!!  . . . I wasn’t sure what the “white” bird was, so I wrote to ask Bryan Pfeiffer.  It had the same beak, and wings & tail as the American Goldfinch, but white with a small bit of yellow???? 

     Fred and I are very glad to be home and have settled back into a routine. Woody, or cat, can't quite bring himself to be very far away from one or the other of us. He keeps a watchful eye on every move we make, and still talks to us a lot. No more low, mournful howls last night, so I think he's accepting that we're still here, even if he cannot see and be with us. He was such a bother when the visiting nurse came today to see Fred, I had to put him down cellar. He's sometimes just too friendly - and inquisitive. 
     Several sad things happened while we were gone. Our good friend, Bill Jones, lost his lovely wife, Janet, on January 10th. We got to know Bill very well when he built our deck last summer, and enjoyed meeting Janet very much. We were shocked and saddened when she became ill, and our thoughts have been with Bill and their family often during the past weeks.
     Jane Larrabee had to be hospitalized with the flu recently. When we came home Thursday, I spoke to Garey in the store and he said she is home and doing well, but is avoiding people as much as possible because she's still vulnerable. Garey said he is trying to recover from pneumonia. Lots of stuff going around, and for that reason, we are being particularly careful, too, as Fred is vulnerable and I certainly cannot afford to be sick.
     Lorna Brown, daughter of Marjorie and the late Thelbert Brown of St. Johnsbury, passed away after a short illness. I knew Lorna's parents well when I worked in the St. Johnsbury school system years ago. Marjorie still owns land near Channel Drive, I believe. I was shocked to learn about Lorna.
     Close neighbors had to make the very painful decision to put down their dog, a sibling to Jamie and Marie's Otto, and we know how difficult that can be. Our animals are like family, and sometimes they become closer than family over the years. But we have to consider the welfare of the animal and do what is best for them, especially when they are in pain and there's nothing more  that can be done. 
     We are expecting rain tonight, and then we'll no doubt slip into cold weather again and icing. That seems to be the theme for this winter so far. Today has been nice, a mild 40 degrees, with lots of wind. My thermometer is registering 36, so when it rains, it may freeze on the cold surfaces.