9 A.M. on my second day at the new farm. It’s sifting that fine icy snow that looks harmless but often just goes on and on like flour sifting into a cake bowl. By days end it could be sitting in piles. I wonder what the drifting is like on the roads I will now need to drive to work. It seems dead still here, no branches moving at all, but I am downhill from the main road, protected by woods.
I suppose I should start the process of hauling in my things. I should try to find my box of clothes so that I have something clean to wear to work- but this is the first morning I have had a table to work at, and so I write. Note to self- shoes -find your shoes, neither slippers nor boots will do for the office.
Yesterday the rest of the elves came to help me with furniture. First the gift of a couch, and then help carrying in the dining room table that extends to fit the whole family. It now looks like someone lives here and not just camping out. The dog was happy for the couch. Her raised bed is not inside yet, and the floors can be cold, even with her blankets.
Yesterday I was remarking to myself on the lack of wildlife. I know the deer are here as we startled one when we came out of the workshop, and I have seen their scat. I have not seen birds nor squirrels. Most likely they are confining themselves to the protection of the wood and perhaps the neighbors evergreens. I have scoped out a way to hang a bird feeder in front of the picture window, and perhaps outside the dining room as well. More things to look for and unpack.
I dropped my conversation with a visitor suddenly when I spotted some type of woodpecker at my locust trees. Large and black with a white face and high red head. Perhaps a Pileated. I would look it up but, you guessed it, my books are still in boxes in the garage. He/she is back this morning, and yes I believe he is living in the spruce tree in the yard next door. It is a pileated. Today I can make out the stripes of white flowing down onto his neck.
This morning a cat wandered down my driveway. I have been told there are strays the owner was feeding, but this is the first I have seen of any cats. I will get catfood for the shed. The first three items on my shopping list. Dog food, Bird seed and Cat food.
Across the way my neighbors picnic set sits on their patio collecting snow. Incongruently the table umbrella is at 3/4 mast though the grill is buttoned up for the season in a khaki tarp. It looks desolate and abandoned, as I suppose it is in mid-winter’s grip. Perhaps come April or May it will bloom into cozy activity.
The forecast is for temperatures well below zero over the next few nights. I wonder what adventures that will bring. My car sits facing downhill, but in this snow I doubt it would roll fast enough to start. Perhaps if I could just get it to the road, I could roll start it down the bigger hill. If not, would it roll all the way to the service station at the corner?