Stocking Up, Hunkering Down

7:07

7:17

8:18

It's 7:30 and both Evie and I are up, ogling the spectacular morning sky, as the sun attempts to rise. Lots of colors off to the south, nothing but dark clouds to the north and west as the weather sirens sound warnings of a heavy snow fall over the next four or five days, perhaps up to two feet.  We will have to wait and see how accurate they are.  And just a second ago, we witnessed the attack of a bald eagle on a raft of ducks, floating down the lake.  We also watched it yesterday afternoon for 15 minutes, as the eagle would swoop down, then rise, float off into the wind, circle, and swoop down again and it went on and on or so it seemed.  We had never seen anything like this before and did not realize that an eagle might go after ducks.

Duck Hunting Bald Eagle

Yesterday was not the best of days as both and Evie and I are fighting colds or worst.  Evie has not felt herself for 0ver a week and went to the doctor yesterday afternoon and came home with a massive dose of antibiotics and a diagnosis of either acute bronchitis or pneumonia.  I am just fighting a cold, the typical symptoms of cough and drainage but I am able to carry on.  Neither of us is bed ridden and Evie has been up and about, feeling better at times, then not so good.  I worked in the yard for about an hour yesterday morning, gathering twigs and branches that fell during the past few weeks, and later in the afternoon, filled another garbage can with twigs and leaves.  I have one more raking to finish this morning, before the weather gets really bad, as the leaves from our Bradford Pear have finally fallen.

We were not sure what to have for dinner, so we decided on my Dad's favorite Santa Fe Chicken, with hominy, yams, tomatoes, cilantro and chicken thighs.  I drove off to pick up the mail and when I came out, my Honda wouldn't start at first.  Finally, it kicked in and I had to decide whether to chance a trip to the store, the car not starting, or go straight home.  So I went to Wegman's, hoping for the best, filled my cart with lots of necessities, came out, struggled with the starter for about 20 seconds and the car finally started.  This has happened before we left for our trip West and off and on over the past two years.  The mechanic does not have a firm idea what's wrong, other than change the plugs and it seems to work.  I guess I will have to take it in again and see if they can find something this time.

Anyways, I made it home and we quickly put away the groceries and Evie started on dinner, wanting to get it over with before she went off to the doctor.  I wanted to drive her but she felt well enough after a shower to drive herself, so I had lunch, then went outside and raked more twigs and leaves. Evie returned with her diagnosis and medication and still felt decent enough to sip a glass of wine, listen to POTUS and watch, with me, the attacks by the bald eagle on the ducks.

A Predatory Bald Eagle

Around 6:30, Evie finished off dinner and made a salad.  The Santa Fe chicken was just what the doctor ordered, hot, flavorful and healthy, or so we thought.  We ended the night catching up on a couple other TV shows, Rectify which we like quite a bit and then another episode of VICE which we really enjoy.  It's on HBO every evening at 7:30, a welcome antidote to the staid and boring Evening News.