There was a definite chill in the air this morning with ice on the windows. Although it was clear, it was as if someone had sucked all the color out of the landscape and replaced it with grey scale.

I put my snow tires on just in time. I guess we won’t see any more Monarch butterflies on the milkweed.

Hopefully the cluster flies will go to sleep for the season-or better yet migrate south where it is always warm. Cluster flies are new to me since I moved north. I should have been wary when the person who built and sold us our house had a handout. The good news is they don’t spread disease. The bad news is they swarm inside the house on sunny, cool days. They play dead, or are just sleeping, when you scoop them into a dustpan and then miraculously reawaken and fly away just when you thought you had them. Now I only use a DustBuster and put a sock in it.