Freezing Fog

Today's interesting weather included freezing fog.  The roads were slicker than ever too, slicker than yesterday, maybe because there had been some thawing of snow, but then it froze into ice.

I enjoy driving in it.  Just nuts I guess.  I'm a careful driver.  Not like many I see, spinning out, for fun, then getting out of control.   The neighbor across the street and her little girl brought me a piece of home made cake today and left it on a plate on my porch.  I saw them leaving and went over to say thanks.  They said someone spun out a block over and smashed into a fire hydrant, cracking it open and flooding the area.  She said it was some yahoo guy.  I think it was someone in a stolen car.  Getaways on ice are a bitch.  A neighbor had just come around the corner and spun around, for fun, on the ice.  "Men,!" she sighed.

This is odd weather we are having.  Creates for interesting experiences on the road.

My back driveway area today was still heavily covered in snow.  The two cats who have been eating here again, before the snow, cats I got fixed from the yard years ago, finally returned.  The brown tabby boy was looking skinny and distraught, however, like he'd hid out all this time, without eating..  I had feared both boys were dead.  I don't know how far they come to get food here, when they need it.

 I think the brown tabby I call Roger Roger used to live in Jack's shed when Jack was alive.  He hung out with Sunny sometimes, Jack's orange boy cat.  Ziva the white girl owned a block away was also very good friends with Jack's cat Sunny.  Before I found Jack's cats Sunny and Dano a home, when the boys were inside my place, Sunny and Ziva would communicate through the cat yard fence poignantly.  I only saw that right before I found them a home and I felt bad splitting up friends.  Zeva's owners have many cats however.  I know, because I got them fixed.  So she has friends she can be with still if she wants.

Simba is owned by the same people who own white cat Zeva, on the next block, but often comes wandering into my garage, even my house, if something is open.  I can't tell you how many times I've accidentally closed him in my garage.    I did get him fixed for his owners some years back.  He knows if he is cold, I'll let him in the garage to nap.

My neighbor with the broken water pipes feeds Zeva from the same house, since the owners don't give her much attention.  She tried to get her inside during the extreme cold too.  I don't know why her owners wouldn't do that for her.

She got her ruptured pipes fixed today finally and was ecstatic when I stopped by over having water again.  She was doing dishes, laundry and about to take another shower.  Fortunately, her hot water heater is working, despite being emptied while still on, after her pipes froze.

I think it is tomorrow the temperatures are supposed to get to near normal, after a start with freezing rain.

I'll miss the snow I think.   It's something different here, rather than the constant gray and rain of usual.

Most of the birds who have come to eat the seed I scattered are Oregon Juncos.  But there are others in the mix, like the resident scrub jay and a couple of Towhees.

The killdeer out along Kennel Drive were desperate for food, darting from the edge of the road, out.  I saw at least three dead among them, frozen along the road.  I am not sure if they eat seed, but I felt like I should drive home and take something back for them, it was so sad to see them starved and cold like that. They have the thin beaks of insect eaters, not thick beaks of seed crunchers. I didn't go back however.

Anything that eats bugs is going to have it tough for awhile.  There will be lots of deaths amongst the birds and animals from this unusual cold.

Not Going Out There and You Can't Make Me, says Starry.