• Snow still in the shadows from last week's dusting. 
• One hunter truck parked at the path to the brook. 
• Quiet, sunny, and cold outside; all's well inside.
• Rob R. phone message indicates he and co-worker began their marking boundaries on Wednesday.
• Oil tank at 11/16ths; checked water heater: it's off.
• Pond has a thin layer of ice.

Friday after Thanksgiving, Bob and I visited Thicut to check things out. Everything is fine.

• There was junk mail in the mailbox. I'll send appropriate stuff to ARM. Maybe a phone call to the post office is in order? I think it's the weekend mail person.
• Bob ran the push mower out of gas and replaced the filter on the field mower.
• J. Deere's hood was up. Did we leave it that way the last time or did someone look at it? Barn 'securely' locked.
• Betsy watered plants, and checked the house. 
• Oil tank is on 3/4ths and house is at 50 degrees.
• Rene D. and Steve LaRosa came out of the woods from hunting while we were there. We had a very nice conversation with both. They said they'd seen lots of deer, but didn't get any today.
• We expect some snow this coming week.

Visited Thicut today with Mom. Two parked vehicles at the top of the driveway: hunters? I took a picture of their license plates, but the white truck is the Garbage man's I think.
A dead mouse smell met me when I opened the door and sure enough, there was a small gray mouse lying in the MIDDLE of the living room rug. I took it outside...
As I walked around the outside, I noticed a pamphlet stuck in the mudroom door: from Watch Tower! I've thrown it away. A little disconcerting to realize they made their way all the way to and around the side of the house!?!
Everything else looks fine.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!

There is snow at Thicut! It's quickly melting, but covering the grass still. Glastonbury had 5 inches, Thicut may have had the same. The road surface is mostly clear and muddy. It's supposed to be 60 by Monday!

• Inside it felt cold, because it's been 32 outside and the house is set at 50. By Monday it won't be so cold.
• I replaced (went to ACE Hardware to buy) 2 smoke alarm's batteries: the upstairs front and the basement. I bought an extra set of batteries for the next time.
• I watered the plants
• reset the kitchen clock (from Superstorm Sandy)
• listened to and erased 14 mostly political phone messages.
• One message from Rob Rocks that we'll need to follow up on? (Nature Conservancy guy) 

Snowflakes are falling from Nor'easter Agnes...

Visited Thicut on Friday.

• As I drove up the driveway, the last hill, a fat raccoon trundled off ahead of me and up the knoll. Raccoons have such a funny gait. She stopped to check me out as I continued slowly by, then continued on more slowly.
• Small branches litter the road, but no big ones are down. 
• The power went off at some point, because the clocks are blinking, but it's on now. 
• There was a receipt in the door from the oil man, dated October 31st, so the oil tank is now 3/4 full. 
• The alarm display shows 2 smoke alarms with low batteries; we will replace them soon!
• Besides several answering machine messages from the Town of East Hampton warning about Sandy, and offering places to go; there was a nice message from 'Adam', the new minister in East Haddam, checking on Aunt Sandy and hoping she was safely in Bethesda.
• I turned off the water. 'Emptied the faucets, flushed the upstairs toilet. A 'small' Nor'easter is coming on Wednesday! Possible snow, but definitely wind and rain.
• Picked the last of the bright yellow mums from the garden in front of the barn to share with Mom.

Hurricane Sandy has turned into 'Superstorm Sandy' in the media and rightly so for the Connecticut  shore, NYC and the New Jersey shore. Here in mid-CT the storm knocked out some power and some trees. We hope to visit tomorrow to check out the house/grounds, but the answering machine works, so it seems power wasn't lost.