While I am enjoying this white Christmas, it has its down side. At some point between 4:13 AM when I looked at the clock to see if it was time to get up and 4:45 when I got out of bed, we'd had a brief power failure. I'd been up about 45 minutes when a second one left me in the dark. The crews were already in the area repairing some other "small outages" (per the Dispatch recording), and my service was restored an hour later. My custom is to sit in the living room on Christmas morning with only the tree, candles and other decorative lights lit until the sun comes up, enjoying the silence. Then I open my gifts, and the other preparations for the day begin. If power permits, this afternoon, Tippy and I will be enjoying a figgy-glazed ham and Brussels sprouts, and the Siskins will be indulging in a continuous supply of black-oil sunflower seed.
Day 62: It's time to play "Name That Carol!" This was the scene (well, a small portion of the scene) which greeted me when I stepped out to fill the bird feeders at sunrise this morning. The mountain-ash tree was full. The contorted filbert was full. They were hopping around in two inches of snow on the ground, and the chatter was incredible. Even more came when I laid out the seed. If Pine Siskins are on the decline elsewhere, it's not happening at my house! So...have you guessed it yet?
On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
Forty-three thousand, seven hundred sixteen
Siskins in an ash tree.
I counted (she said with tongue firmly in cheek).
