
On Friday, Lisa and I (she did most of the work) moved the small "satellite" wood box into its winter quarters on the front porch just outside the front door and started moving wood from the main box to this one so it would be handy to the living room. We also keep a few of the firelogs in a box in the living room (not too close to the fireplace) so that we can stoke the fire without having to go outside.

Late Saturday night, as I was getting ready for bed, I looked outside and saw that snow was starting to fall in earnest. I put more wood in the fire and went to bed, sleeping in almost four hours later than my usual 4:30 alarm call for the Day Jobbe.

This morning, I rose to find about 5 cm / 2 in of snow on the front porch.

As usual, things look nicer around here with a coat of snow on them.

Here's the view out the bedroom window on the north side of the house. They're not visible in this photo, but I could see a lot of birds perching in the tree on the right, and I could hear them chirping loudly as well.

I refilled the bird feeder yesterday, and this morning many birds were flocking to the feeder and to the area below (zoom in to see the quail) where the birds using the feeder spill birdseed below.
After getting dressed, I swept the porch and part of the front walk (the porch paint seems to be holding up okay despite only having had a couple of days to cure) so that I could get more firewood from the main box and go put out more birdseed. By noon, with the sun out and the temperature edging toward today's forecast high of +3° C, much of the snow had started to melt.
The next few days are forecast to be very cold, so icy walks are a concern. There is also some chance of snow later in the week. As I've said before, we don't get a whole lot of snow here because most of it drops in the Sierra Nevada (chain controls are still up over Donner Summit as I write this), and the snow rarely sticks around much. Nevertheless, I'm happy to hole up at home and stay warm.
I did put the flags back up this morning, having taken them down in anticipation of last night's storm. I'm still happy to once again be able to take some pride in my country.