Woke up to a half foot of snow coated with ice. The limbs of the pines near the house are alarmingly bent, pulled practically straight down by popsicle masses where boughs used to be.

Remarkably we still have power, for the moment. The past couple years the electricity seems to go out with every stiff breeze. Once it was a squirrel nesting in the substation. All those decades since the great New York blackout and those damned squirrels still haven't learned to keep out of substations.

Mary and I perked a couple pots of coffee last night which can be heated on the gas stove if necessary. So if the power does goes off, survival is possible. Guess winter has finally started. Time to break into the food supplies.

And a second after I finished writing the above the power went off just long enough to crash the computer and then flickered back on. Well, we shall see what happens.