Water - the gift of life

One of the positives of where I live is that it is all down hill to the freeway - and it was quite icy this morning but the freeways were mostly good. Once I got south of Olympia the roads were clear to Portland. Coming home I took the long way - a less steep hill that has oodles of traffic on it - only the side roads were still iced over this afternoon.

I noticed both bird baths were frozen solid, the bird feeder was nearly empty, the hummingbird feeder heater was doing it's job and there were dozens of birds looking for something to eat. A quick top off of the bird feeder, broke out the ice and then refilled with fresh water. Many birds seemed to be grateful for a drink of water. Once the starlings figured out there was fresh water - a major communal bath took place - in 28 F / -2 C  weather.

As for being a juror tomorrow - they notified me this afternoon that due to the icy roads, the ice storm that is coming in and... that I will need to show up in January now instead. Sigh. My boss had no work for me as I was supposed to be at court.. So I will be off till the 26th. Grateful to be off the roads with the next storm - especially as the local news says we might break a record cold low temp.

Watching two hummers have supper by candlelight...