The Big Freeze

Bill liked this one, so the Stellar Jay and the female Flicker are the stars of the show today. We put water in the fountains and bird baths, but it was so cold, it was hard to keep it from freezing. It's unusual to see the big birds at this fountain, but desperate times, etc. There were lots of birds at the feeder and at the water fountains and it was fun watching them today. We got auntie and brought her over and our son showed up for his belated birthday cake. We watched a bit of TV and visited and had home made tacos, which was at the birthday boy's request. Then the cake and ice cream and watched the basketball game on TV. A nice day but very cold.

Interestingly, 41 years ago tomorrow is the record low for Portland which was 8 degrees F. (-13C) I remember it well as we had brought our brand new baby boy home from the hospital and then winter descended with a vengeance. It was similar to what we just had, with wind and very cold air with tiny snowflakes that blew all over the place. We kept the fireplace roaring and put towels around the bottom of the door of our old house as it was a bit drafty. But, 41 years ago, there was more snow and it stayed cold and miserable for quite a bit longer than this current cold snap. By the end of this week, it will be over with and we will be back to good old rain.

Hope all is well.