High Wind.

I think I'm going to say that was a windstorm that pulled through around 3:45 a.m.—had to be the tail of that front that snowed and iced in the mountains and seems to have left us dry here, though I did not get myself out of bed to lay eyewitness to that account. It banged the windows in their panes and it threw things around out there, and there was something in the wind that sounded like sleet, but it did not fully wake the Toad and nothing out on the ground this morning was wet, so there you have it. There was an overnight event apparently without consequence. Or with this consequence: It is cold and freezer-dry again out there. We are cloudless and pale, pale blue. I had weekend projects in mind having to do with outdoors and building repair and etc. If this keeps up I'm going to have to buy a pair of fingerless gloves.

Cold and cold, friends and fans of weather, and getting colder as we head out of one more work week. The fancies on the T and V are already handwringing about a possible snow event early next week. As for me and my kind, I am about done with all of that, though I do feel myself menu-planning for that storm, trying to account for which and what foods will best carry me through that and towards warmer days.

The leaf trucks made their second passes through the neighborhood yesterday, and my back yard is still full of its second falling of leaves. These are the things that get missed in the era of the Toad. These are some of the things, anyway.