New Santa in Town

Chase is on the job.

Farewell, old buckeye friend

Margot sent over a picture of this drawing, which is Gina Maria's tribute to the huge buckeye tree with the marvelous swing that, until just recently, was the backdrop to Randy's garden at the Celo Inn (click this picture so you can see it bigger). Alas, the tree and its swing had to come down.

Randy said, "Imagine your favorite pair of shoes...eventually your feet grow to the point that it hurts to wear them.  With sadness you retire that pair and get another that, hopefully, you love as much.  In the case of the tree, it had simply outgrown the space that was available for it.  Roots from the tree filled every garden bed, even the greenhouse -- it was a very happy tree with all that fertile soil to feed in."

Nancy said, "The roots and shade were eating the garden.  The trunk and limbs were listing toward the power line.  The leaves provided a lifetime of mulch.  When it bloomed each May, the bee symphony was a spectator (or what’s the audio version of that word?) event.  In this world of change, it’s a small thing to grieve, but I will."

squirrel larder

A mother load of acorns in one of my boots this morning.

Rime Ice

Rime ice is that white stuff that even from a distance doesn't really look like snow and is often covering the top of the blacks on cold mornings when it hasn't snowed. This is what it looks like up close. It's worth clicking this one to see it a little bigger.

According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, rime ice is, "a white, opaque, granular deposit of ice crystals formed on objects that are at a temperature below the freezing point. Rime occurs when supercooled water droplets (at a temperature lower than 0° C [32° F]) in fog come in contact with a surface that is also at a temperature below freezing; the droplets are so small that they freeze almost immediately upon contact with the object. Rime is common on windward upper slopes of mountains that are enveloped by supercooled clouds. Rime is composed of small ice particles with air pockets between them; this structure causes its typical white appearance and granular structure"