What a fantastically beautiful view out the sun porch this morning. God has laid down a two to maybe two and a half inch blanket of snow on everything this morning. It is one of those "quiet" snows, meaning that it is a wet snow and therefore deadens sound. It is a picture of silence; ---- except for the galloping of the squirrel menagerie that is running back and forth across my roof. It sounds like a soccer team up there.

Needless to say, the feeders have a lot of visitors this morning and the heated bird bath is the star attraction. Before the day is out I will have to go refill all of the feeders. But, the Cardinals against a backdrop of snow does make for the perfect winter picture.

Saturday as I sat here there was a large Woodpecker out at the bark butter bits feeder. It would grab a pellet and fly away over to the top of the door on my yard barn. I watched it as it did that over and over. Saturday afternoon I carried another 50 pound bag of sunflower seed out to the yard barn to put in my storage can. When I opened the door, I got rained on by bark butter pellets that the Woodpecker had spent the morning storing up there. And --- that Woodpecker sat up in a tree above me calling me all kinds of unhappy things.

I've already gone out and shoveled the driveway this morning. Unfortunately I haven't put the blade on the John Deere yet this season. So, I had to do it the manual way. I treated my driveway last night before the snow came so it was an easy shovel this morning. My hope is that the sun will now dry it off before the wetness from under the snow turns to black ice and creates a bigger problem. Our temperatures are going nowhere quickly. It is 21° out there now and that will be the high for the next two days. Winter wonderland came one month early.

My prayers go out this morning for the family of my friend John who is being buried this morning. I hope the roads are clear enough that they can travel safely back and forth. The cemetery where he is to be buried is on a hill. On the bright side, I hope the family can see through their grief this morning as they are out there at the cemetery and take in what will be a beautiful view. The cemetery overlooks a lot of pasture and farmland and the snow covered fields and trees will be reflecting the light of God. God is still speaking to us every day and today I know he is speaking peace to their souls through the beauty of the nature surrounding them as they say "until we meet again" to their loved one.

I know God will speak to you and I today too. We just need to listen for the message. It will speak of love; and who doesn't want to hear that. Have a blessed day.