Almost there

One of my son's weekly chores is to take the kitchen and bathroom trash out. He usually does this on Friday mornings before heading to the bus stop. But school is on mid-winter break this week.

Fortunately, he took out the trash and I delivered the compost to the bin on the other side of the house on Thursday just before we left for the ski hill.

On Friday morning, he awoke to a new chore -- digging a path to the garbage and recycling bins while his father shoveled the steps. Given 14 inches of snow fell, wind gusts of 25 to 30 mph created some major drifts between our house and the neighbors', and the snow is up to his shoulders in some places, this may take a while.

"Almost there," he reported, coming inside from his first round of shoveling. To me, it appears he's halfway to the bins.

No worries. I'm expecting an automated call from our trash carrier saying that due to the storm our scheduled trash pickup has been delayed.

The blue robbin

I stepped out on the front porch to await my son's arrival and was astonished to see what looked incredibly like a blue robin. It flew from our stair railing to that of our neighbors', as I admired its bright colors and marveled at how much it looked like a robin.

As the school bus growled to a stop on the corner, a half-dozen of the birds flew across our yards and up into the trees. My friend joined them.

I greeted Sam with the news of the "blue robin." Upon consulting the bird book, I read about the sialia sialis or Eastern bluebird. Sharing openly my naiveté at "birding," it was my first sighting.

Latest resident

Ever since we had seven skunks living under our shed four summers ago, I always like to know who moved in during the winter before I start frequenting our backyard. I wasn't ready for this surprise. The fox was sunning himself on the deck before I disrupted his reverie with my photo-taking. He's kind of cute, though I'm glad we don't keep chickens.

One last first for 2012

Our son skied in his first-ever Junior Alpine Ski Race today at Chester Bowl. He did quite well, posting a time of 29.51 seconds. The highlights for him: skiing with his buddy Blayn before the race and getting his fingers warm after it. The highlights for me: watching him race and thawing my toes. Today's high temperature was 8, with a "real feel" of -11.

Dose of reality

In a heated election year, it's important to have a credible source. I appreciate this organization: www.factcheck.org and the work it does!

One down, two to go

My husband live-trapped one of three raccoon bandits who have been raiding our fish pond at night.

I heard the trap's door snap close around 10 p.m. The night before we had caught a skunk, so we were anxious to see what we had captured.

His buddies tried to help him escape sometime during the night, digging two holes in the yard on either side of the trap. But they couldn't spring him free.

Tom released the varmint early this morning near Island Lake.

Remembering Grandpa Frank

Backyard marshamallow roast  2011

Our next-door neighbor, Frank Barnaby, died yesterday. He was a convenient "grandpa" to our son, who in this photo from last summer is showing him one of his characters in the Lord of the Rings Online game.

We never will forget Frank's unique method of keeping the raccoons out of our fish pond while we were on vacation or the time he inspected my husband's plumb fenceposts that were just setting in the concrete.

Halloween 2011

Most of all, we will remember him for being a warm host, a sharp card player, a wonderful storyteller, a helpful neighbor and a good friend.

We already miss you dearly.