We are happy that today we've had sunshine most of the day. Of course, some of the time it was hard to see it because of the blowing snow, but this afternoon the temperature has actually been in the mid to high 30s, up from the teens this morning. At one point this morning I saw the wind chill factor was at 9 degrees. All that has calmed down and I expect we'll get a really cold night now the sky is clear. I know the forecast is for colder than normal for most of next week - then possibly another nor'easter. 
     I have been happy to hibernate with my computer today, but Fred bravely hiked up Jamie and Marie's driveway this afternoon - the first time since about the first week in January. He really is doing very well after so many weeks of being out of commission. Now if I could just pack some weight onto him . . .
     We ran out of Ice-Out tickets this week!! Fortunately, Leahy Press in Montpelier came to the rescue and we have more being delivered on Sunday, so they will be available until April 1st at Hastings store. There are tickets at all of the usual places, but Hastings is where most people go to pick up their tickets last minute, and it's fast approaching the "last minute" of 11:59 p.m. on April 1st. That is actually a Sunday, so it will be necessary to get tickets in the mail on Saturday or returned to any place open that sells the tickets. Then, of course, we wait for the ice to melt. 
     I had a note from my friend, Mary Whitcomb this week. She has had a lot of interesting wildlife around her house this winter. This week she was visited by a lovely bird - here's what she wrote:

     I believe this is an immature Cooper’s Hawk.  It hung around a good fifteen minutes in my snowball bush near the house.  It’s funny, but during that whole time there were some chickadees in the upper branches, but the hawk paid no mind to them.
 The huge Pileated Woodpecker was busy looking for his next meal in the tree on the Hollister Hill Road in Marshfield.  I know it’s a male bird, because of the red cheek stripe.  

     The hawk looks fat and healthy - perhaps he'd had lunch already. Lucky chickadees! He might have been waiting for an unsuspecting mouse or chipmunk.
     I love pileated woodpeckers. They are so colorful, big and bold. We've watched them in the woods many times - and even heard them pecking away on our neighbor's house when we lived at camp. Ned and Carolyn Hamilton had just rebuilt their place and the wood was new cedar, I think. That woodpecker loved it! It was irritating to us when he'd start up early on weekend mornings, but imagine how frustrating it must have been for Ned and Carolyn to have a bird drilling holes in their new house!
     Thanks to Mary for sending these great pictures - and for the memories!! I bet Ned and Carolyn remember that, too.