Round and round and round....

Today started out mostly clear, cold, and windy.

I pulled on my fleece headband to protect my ears during chores, and it didn't quite cut it.

Raccoon tracks crisscrossed the barnyard driveway; they aren't getting free-choice black oil sunflower seeds and cat food this winter but I'm sure they still check.

This evening I sat down for a few minutes to post one of the above photos to Instagram and read the latest installment of a blogpal's love story when Brian said, "Mom, look out the window." I turned to look east/northeast and saw this:

When the setting sun throws that much color to the east, there's usually an even bigger show to the west, so I jumped up and ran out the front door with my iPhone. The frigid wind and the brilliant sky left me doubly breathless! (I ducked inside between each installment; brrrr.)

After dark, Jackson took up watch at the deck doors. I checked periodically to see what he was watching; at first it was only wind, then snowflakes. When I flipped on the light to see a gray shape checking the bird feeder, it took me a second to realize it was a raccoon – minus a tail! Poor thing; it was obviously a recent loss. I almost went and got more sunflower seed just to give it a boost while it recovered from the trauma.

For chores tonight I pulled on a heavy fleece balaclava my sister gave me years ago along with my insulated overalls and stayed warm. It's not bitterly cold (we haven't deployed the heated buckets and tank heaters), but it feels much more like eastern Nebraska than NW Oregon out there. Thankfully we have electricity and plenty of firewood, so we're good.

But Brian could be in for another snow day tomorrow.

Sun and snow (and raccoons) come and go at . . .