Brrrrrrr

This herd of deer walk through our backyard almost every morning

we now have 2 red bellied woodpeckers. I haven't seen the females since this summer

I had bought antique glass rose ornaments for the bicycling posse that met here last night

we had a coat of ice crystals that sparked in the rising sun this morning. Should have gone outside for a good photo but it was well below zero

Every day I run outside thinking I won't be able to run the next day because the weather will be worse. It was well below zero this morning but it quickly 'warmed up' to ten so out I went. The Great Lakes protected us somewhat from the polar vortex as they were quite warm this summer so temperatures in Wisconsin run 20 degrees below what is on the west coast of Michigan. Still some cold air gets around to freeze us on the east side.

Naomi called us the other night to report she has no water. Could the pipes have frozen even though the severe cold hadn't hit us yet? I asked her to check her basement to make sure it wasn't flooded. Nope and she had water running in her laundry sink. Strange. She lives on the 2nd floor of the condo. A crabby old lady lives on the first. She would not answer the door so Naomi did not know if she had water. The next day, we were contracting for emergency plumbing (on a Sunday). We were going to need to access the 1st floor. Steve could hear the lady moving about in her apartment but it wasn't until several times that she deigned to answer the door. Turns out she turned off Naomi's water to have some insulation work done though I can't imagine why. She forgot to turn it on. Naomi has the shut off valve in her private space which this lady accessed without permission. Trespassing anyone?
This woman had lodged a formal complaint against Naomi for jumping on the bed at 10 pm and for leaving their joint front door unlocked. The Association told us we would be fined if the door  was left unlocked again. Of course it was unlocked when Steve showed up. Dark thoughts about Naomi. He locked it. It became unlocked. Turns out the woman herself was unlocking it. So the next time she feels like filing a complaint, criminal charges could be filed against her.

I had the ladies that rode in the Michigander over yesterday. They are changing the ride such that we stay 2 nights in each location. Less packing up the tent. As all 3 places are on Lake Michigan, it will be hard to be motivated to actually ride.

That will be in 7 months. Hopefully I will be quite trim then.