Saturday, December 20, 2008

Christmas Break and Frightful (or Delightful) Weather

I finished my first college courses on Monday. The last thing I had to do was write two research papers, and in the process I ended up with a rather scholarly-looking stack of books. It's not really what it looks like--I didn't use all of these books and I only needed small portions of them, but it was funny to have such a big stack of books in my room. Anyway, it's nice to be on Christmas break now, and what a Christmas break it's been!


The weather suddenly got rather arctic last Sunday, and it's been fun to watch it this whole week. Living near the mouth of the gorge means we get some violent, howling winds in addition to the snow. Right now the wind is blasting the snow down the street and rushing around the house. Our family enjoys exciting weather, but I know it's unpleasant for many. It's nice to have snow, since it's so unusual around here.


We've also been watching the birds a lot. You would think they would nestle down somewhere in the woods and wait things out, but they've still been at our feeders. It seems like it would be difficult to eat when you're trying to cling to a swinging feeder for dear life.
And then there's the hummingbirds. We have a window feeder for them, and amazingly, they've been out there through all of this weather. The nectar freezes and snow covers the top, so we thaw it out, and they keep coming back. They look so pathetic, though!
I've been taking some Christmas tree pictures, so I'll post a few of those.