Happy brand new week! It is s foggy morning as the temperature tries to slowly climb and the snow pack melts a little bit. We didn't get much snow here; maybe an inch or so. But when it came, it came hard and quick. We left for church at 0800 and it wasn't snowing at all. By the time we finish first service at 1000 hrs, it was blowing and snowing a really fine snow. But by the time we finished second service and a council meeting, the roads were slick and treacherous. Travel was down to forty miles an hour except for the idiots. We only saw one guy off in a ditch on the way home but news folks said there were slide-offs everywhere. By 1600 our part of the snow was over and there was maybe an inch or maybe two on the ground. So, I jumped on the Deere and cleaned our drive, neighbor Dan's drive and the street to the top of the hill. Today it is supposed to get up to forty degrees which should help to melt most of what we have on the ground.

I still have a yard full of blackbirds of all varieties. They have cleaned out most of the feeders and are eating mostly suet now. I can see there is still a small amount of sunflower seed in a couple of the feeders but the blackbirds and the mockingbird are having battles over those. And even the squirrel is trying to eat from a suet feeder. It also came and took a bite of the hot pepper feed block I have out there and I got the exact reaction that I was hoping for. The birds could care less about the hot peppers  in it but Mr. Squirrel sure didn't like it. The cardinals are here this morning and they are finding stuff to eat. They really look pretty against the snow. Obviously there is enough seed and feed on the ground in the snow for the birds to eat or the blackbirds would have moved on and they certainly have not.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. I had hoped Ms. Kate and I could go out for a nice dinner or supper but we stayed in because of the weather. I'll sure be glad when it starts to warm up and this snow stuff gets over. But then, a warm fire place and a Ms. Kate cooked meal is better than going out anyway.

This week looks to be fairly uneventful. Hopefully no one I know passes away this week. I don't have any extra meeting scheduled that I know of and no classes to attend. I' got started, barely, on my sermon for the 28th of February last night. I should have plenty of time to write that one and then start on March services. I would love to get several weeks ahead but that seldom happens. But, although it is still February, it isn't that long until Ms. Kate and I start taking a couple vacations; just barely nine weeks which means we better also get seriously busy planning our trips.

I just watched a squirrel work its butt off trying to eat the suet out of a suet feeder. It hung from a branch by its back legs and stretched over and grabbed the feeder with its front legs and pulled it to him. Then it turned it around and around until it actually got the feeder open and the suet fell out on the ground and the little chain fell off and the feeder hit the ground too. But then it just went to another feeder rather than go down and eat the suet that had fallen on the ground. They are so darned destructive. Oh, well.

The fog is burning off somewhat and I need to quit writing and get something done other than watch squirrels tear stuff up. I pray your day is full of joy.