Our first winter storm?

There's a winter storm watch now in effect from Sunday evening through Monday afternoon above 5000'. We live at 4860' and we've had cold and dark grey clouds all day.

The fever and sore throat I had yesterday afternoon subsided in the evening and I slept OK last night, but today I felt tired and didn't get much other than a paper written. I was in no mood to garden, although I pulled the remaining dead corn from the plot and tossed it all in our last home trash pick-up. Since we recycle so much of our trash it takes us a month to fill one 95-gallon bin, yet it costs us the same $67.75 every three months whether we use the service once a month or twice a week. From now on we will drop off our trash at the town's transfer station.

Birds are getting ready for winter. For the past three days they have been fattening up on the seeds I have been laying out for them again, which they all seem to appreciate. One big platter of piled seed is gone by the afternoon, indicative of the cold yet to come.

I hope these storms bring some rain with us. I don't mind the cold, as we are in late fall now, but I want to see more rain fall on our lands to drench the soil. It's depressing to look at naked trees, even more depressing to look at sick and thirsty naked trees. The peaks may get two to four inches of snow. I hope they do!