If You Fill The Feeders, They Will Come

This morning, instead of the usual squirrels, the birds were the first ones to discover that I'd filled all the feeders.  There was a chickadee spreading the news as I finished up so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when the trio of bluejays came in squawking and warning everyone else away.  Then a pair of cardinals came to visit.  They're very skittish and don't stay long.  This female stood her ground in the platform feeder, chasing off some house finches and tolerating this chickadee but the male didn't even make it from the crook to the feeder.  He flew off seedless.  Tsk, tsk.

The only things I did after leaf-raking yesterday was to ice my ankle a few times and knit on the foot of Anklet #3.  I got to the toe decreases, did the first round to put in the little markers that remind me what to do where, then I went around switching the time on most of the clocks (from 11:05 to 10:05), and crashed.  It was luxurious but rather odd to awaken this morning at 7 o'clock, put up the shade, and see that it was light outside.  Very odd, but not unappreciated.  Did you remember to turn your clocks back?  I need to get some batteries for the smoke alarms today and take some over to the renters too.

November 6--Scott T. Smith, Smiling Winter Woman.  Katya thought she looked good.  Well, as good as a dumpy woman could look in a thick winter coat, heavy boots, and a gray knit hat pulled down to her eyebrows.  She based her good feeling on the fact that she was wearing red wool gloves that matched the scarf muffling the lower half of her face.  She had knitted the scarf and gloves herself, the first gloves she had ever made.  No matter that the pinkie on her left glove was twice as long as her finger.  She'd knit around and around, measure, and for a long time it never seemed to get longer.  Then it was suddenly too long.  She had been too afraid of losing stitches to rip it back so she finished it and wore the gloves with pride.

I've got the first load in the washer and as soon as I go down, flop the wet clothes into the dryer and get the next load going, I plan to plop down on the couch and finish the toe of Anklet #3.  Woohoo!  I am a knitting machine.  Yeah, yeah, then I'll work on the hexagons or Sudoku strip, cross my heart.
--Barbara