**SIGH**

"Oh bother," said Eeyore.

The temperature just after midnight was a balmy 48 degrees and it was raining--hard. By 7 AM it had dropped to 30 and the rain had switched over to that nasty white stuff. Not to worry, however, they say it won't amount to any significant accumulations despite the half inch on the deck by 10 AM. Probably surprised the robins who were enjoying the wide open grass and forest floor in their hunt for insects and worms.

Should switch back to rain and then peter off later this afternoon. Should.

Meanwhile, someone--either a bear or a raccoon--knocked the standing tray feeder over during the night and toppled the tray on the deck rail as well. I'm taking my time in going out to upright those feeders and hang the ones I took in at sun down. I'm trying to convince the horde of redpolls to get on their way north. Hasn't affected them this morning as they glean the collected seed hulls on the ground for a few intact seeds. They've been mining the tailings, so to speak. The squirrels have been helping out by digging deep into the mounds of seed hulls the runoff water has piled up. The squirrels are the heavy lifters in this operation.