Spring is coming!

It's the first official day of winter (The Solstice) and yet I've also received the first harbinger of spring. Newly arrived in today's mail was the 2010 Burpee Seed Catalog! It used to be that the catalog wouldn't arrive until the calanders had been changed. Now, like the holiday decorations in the store, they seem to have moved up a month or more. Still, it's nice to have all those lovely photos to look at even if the plants in my garden never, ever look that good.

Not that there's much we want or need to purchase this year. We've a long summer trip planned that will take us away from the Aerie between June 15th and September 1st and there won't be anyone around to tend the garden except for Mr. Groundhog and Mr. Rabbit. Terry and I have signed up for a Good Sam's Club Caraventure that will take us to Alaska.

Now all we have to do is find somewhere to park the kitties for the two and a half months. They do not travel well and crossing the Canadian border would require all sorts of extra paperwork. Not to mention the worry of their going on the lam the first time the trailer door is opened.

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Meanwhile, it's overcast and cold at the Aerie again with light breezes just sufficient enough to turn the windmills. A "decorative" snow flurry or two (it's been nearly continuous) is slowly falling. No accumulation is predicted beyond a "dusting" of snow. Beats the heck out of a foot of the stuff like Terry had in Linden, NJ.

I'm supposed to go into NJ on Thursday for Christmas Eve at my sister's returning to the Aerie on Christmas Day. But, just like last year, ice is in the forecast for Christmas Day. AccuHunch this morning said up to 0.8 inches is possible. If it moves up I may have to forgo the journey just as I did last year. Snow I don't mind driving in, but ice is another thing altogether.

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The birds are taking advantage of my largess in great numbers today. The chickadees; tufted titmice; white- and red-breasted nuthatches; juncos; blue jays; goldfinches; mourning doves; red-bellied, downy, and hairy woodpeckers are zooming in and out like jets at O'Hare. Unlike the jets, rather than circle the clearing in holding patterns they perch in the trees or cling to the tree trunks around the yard to await their chance at choice feeding spots or to hammer at purloined seeds . I find the activity of my feathered horde exhausting. I may have to follow the cats' example and grab some shuteye.