The temperature was right at the freezing mark when I got up. About half an hour later there was enough light for me to see visible proof of frost on the railing. There was a slight crunch underfoot as I stepped onto the deck.

I’m not good at reading rabbits. Are you? I wonder if the one I saw on the road had been shot. There were red bits around it, but I think they were undigested berries rather than frozen drops of blood. I’ll bet son John $ and grandson Nathaniel are glad they aren’t here for me to ask if one would like to skin the animal and the other to prepare Hasenpfeffer.

When I climbed the steep hill on the way home, the sun was just about to peek above the mountain. Sunrise was officially at 7:58 according to computer weather, and it was probably an hour later than that. Have you ever wondered how sunrise is calculated? I looked it up and almost immediately flipped off the page before math hysteria could set in. If you’d like to see the equation, hold onto your chair and click here.