Last evening a gust of wind suddenly whipped up the mountain, blew open the back door, and showed up in our kitchen.  The porch wind chimes rang continuously throughout the evening and all night.  Around 10 as we were falling asleep, we heard a noise close to the house that sounded like a tree brushing against objects as it fell.  We got up, checked the porch, and Cliff went outside with his flashlight but couldn't find anything unusual.  When I went out on the back porch to fill the feeders this morning, I saw the cause of all the noise not far from the porch. 

Fortunately for us, the dead 50' oak fell in a northerly direction away from the house.  We had a light dusting of snow during the night.  Cliff cancelled his PT appointment and I opted not to try to get to the gym.  Secondary roads have patches of black ice.  The temperature was about 12 degrees when we got up and the birds have been hitting the feeders and hanging on the suet.

 Cardinals at the feeder.

Recently, I hung a basket containing a few sunflower seeds on a small hook on the back porch to see if it would attract any birds.  The silly birds love to jump in, grab a seed, and perch on the edge before flying off.  I've already heated two pots of water to pour over the frozen birdbaths.  The sun is bright and beautiful but temperature won't even reach high 20's here on the mountain today.  Cliff has a warm fire going in the wood stove and it'll be the perfect day for baking.