Cold.

We missed the snowstorms that hit the coastal areas yesterday, but even for this confirmed North Country gal, this is a hard cold.

Our thermometer hangs close to the house, near a furnace vent, and so it always registers a little "warmer" than the actual temperature. Yes, we should get around to moving it to a better location. But not today.

Recently, I cooked up a large batch of homemade bird suet from this recipe . It is already nearly half gone. I put out cake after cake and the cold-weary birds keep coming and hungrily feeding there.Three kinds of woodpeckers, chickadees, sparrows, nuthatches, and even the normally ground-feeding juncos are regular visitors to the suet feeder.

Further out on the lawn, cardinals, finches, jays, titmice, and mourning doves are busy at the feeders there. They have been eating sunflower seed, thistle, and corn meal since first light.

It is cold, deeply cold, and I am happy to share with them such as we've got.

We have an elderly acquaintance who lives in our town, a hard-working widow who heats her modest home with expensive kerosene. I will see her tomorrow. I hope she will allow us to help with a little something toward her heat bill. This is a tough winter to be stretched for cash.

The headlines tell us that the income inequality debate is now in the mainstream. 
I hope so. 
It is very cold out there.

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