Minnesota Winter Fun

This morning you can tell it's winter in Minnesota again. Little white flakes falling from the sky and the ground starting to take on a bright white look. We never know with the early season snow if it will melt in a few days or spend the next 5 months under the inevitable 40 to 60 inches of snow that will accumulate before the end of winter. It is not supposed to snow much today, so hopefully what falls will disappear in a few days and I can continue harvesting the inexhaustible supply of leaves from my scruffy looking lawn. The onset of winter has brought us an unwelcome guest or, more likely, several unwelcome guests looking for a warm place to spend the winter. It happens every year and we have to set out the traps with peanut butter a few times to get rid of them. This year they did something a little unusual. They decided to take food from the dog's dish and store it in the burner compartment of the oven in our gas stove. The burner is under the bottom of the oven so it is not visible when using the oven. We discovered what the mice had done when we turned on the oven to bake a pizza a few days ago. Smoke started pouring out of the oven vent and quickly filled the kitchen and ajacent rooms and set off the fire alarm in the dining room. We had to open windows in 30 degree weather to clear the smoke, but the scent of burned dog food lingered for a few days afterward.

It looks like the snow is easing up and the light cover that was on the road is partially gone. It's time to get off the computer and get something accomplished today.