Hey! Who turned the thermostat down?

We didn't just take a step back into spring time today. We leaped completely back into winter! It was 38 degrees when the cats got us up this morning. (The birds, who had taken over the wake-up chores the last few days, slept in--probably beneath a down comforter.) The sky remained overcast all day and the wind kept blowing 15-25 mph out of the northwest. The result was a "high" of just 40 degrees, not the forecast 50, and a totally raw feeling throughout the day. We haven't turned the heat back on because the living quarters are a comfortable 61 degrees--just about where they are during the winter. We may have to turn the heat up in the bedroom, however. The windows there were left open throughout the morning and it got down to 52 degrees before we thought to shut them. At 9:45 PM it is 31 degrees.

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Tomorrow morning is our first bird walk at Hills Creek State Park. It's gonna be a cold one!

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Wrote the check for Uncle Sam today. It will be in the mail tomorrow. a single stamp will not carry all the enclosed paper to the government and additional postage will be necessary. The return for PA cost us 61 cents to mail and this one will be about the same.

I happened to see this at the Tax Profs Blog: Today Is Tax Freedom Day -- Earlier in AK, LA & MS, Later in CT, NJ, NY. Pennsylvania is ranked #11 (which is not good but still better than #1 Conn or #2 NJ) and or actual tax freedom day will not be until next Tuesday, April 13th. (You can find out where your state ranks by looking at the Tax Foundation site: here. The folks in Alaska celebrated their Tax Freedom Day on March 26th--the first in the country to do so.

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We went down to Holy Child for dinner tonight. They were having chicken and biscuits and it was good. The church has a monthly fundraising dinner and it is usually excellent. Even if the meal is more like Mom's than restaurant quality, the homemade desserts are well worth the stop. Besides, the dinner conversations are yet another part of the underground news network of small town, rural America.

There was one guy and his wife, for instance: his truck plate is YUKON KID and she's Aleut. Mention that we were going to Alaska and she chimed in with how she'll be flying to Fairbanks on June 22 and then taking a puddle jumper into the bush to go visit family.

Another couple lives just down the hill. She was a former teacher in Maryland and they both retired here. They had been to an Audubon meeting last year (something I had to remind them of) curious about some of the birds in their yard. (They never followed up with our offer to come and see what they had on their land.) We commiserated about the truck traffic associated with the wind farm and gas drilling for a bit. They have a neighbor who will have a well drilled on his property and we think the same may happen near us if the 3-D seismic studies show it is warranted.

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After dinner we stopped at the new Tractor Supply store to pick up some cat food and were sorely tested by the baby chicks and ducks they had for sale. Since we will be gone for nearly two months this summer, that temptation passed swiftly.

Since Beiter's Home Furnishings is right next store, we went to see what they had in the way of living room furniture. The stuff we have is coming up on 25 years old and is starting to show its age. They didn't have anything we liked but they did have a 2-for-1 sale on recliners and they did have a couple that we did like there. So, come Tuesday, the love seat in the loft--the one I sit on throughout the football season--will be replaced by two very comfortable reclining chairs. (And, some how, I'll get the delivery guys to haul the love seat down to the garage.)

Somebody's got to keep the American economy rolling!