We still have a thin cloud cover but it is so thin the sun light is creating shadows. There is no blue sky but some sun effects are nice. The temper- ature is close to freezing so there is melting. The pave- ments, especially blacktop, are heat sinks. A few pictures to remind some of you how lucky you are and for the others, you have my sympathies. Just remember, we know well the effects of snow storms, for whatever comfort that may give you.

Welcome to winter in Minnesota. The first picture is of icicles in the early morning; the sun may not yet be up. I did not take the picture and saw it only when I viewed mine. And yes, you can see our successful squirrel deflector on the bird feeder pole. We have watched the squirrels try to climb up to the feeder. They get as high as the bottom of the plastic and then look up into it. It is now arranged so they cannot see up through it. It is also wide enough that they cannot see around it. We think that because they cannot see their intended goal, they give up and slid down the pole.

It has been several years since we have had snow banks this high.