I'm tired, but my marking is done. Except for the paper that is no doubt waiting under the door of my office when I go in tomorrow. And the one I couldn't find, that I need to look for in my office just in case before I give the student an "F."
I had time this afternoon to go out and buy a small Christmas tree.
On my bird-feeder today: chickadees, juncos, white crowned sparrow, nuthatch, downy woodpecker, house finch, pine siskin.
and one very large rat.
Well, I suppose it is entitled to eat, too. I do not, however, wish to actively encourage it. So I bought a "baffle" that will go around the pole of my bird-feeder and with any luck thwart large rodents. I have already got a hanging screen thingy that goes under the tube feeder to collect any dropped seeds, but ratty had run easily up the pole and was nibbling first on the suet cake and then on the "bird butter" which is stuffed into a feeder made from a drilled branch. With the baffle, hopefully ratty will be unable to reach any of these. Unless he is a pole-vaulter.
With the snow and freezing temperatures, I am disinclined to stop feeding the birds.