October 21, 2010 – It’s rainy and cold today.  Sue had a big fire in the fireplace last night to take the chill off the living room.  The first snow of this season was reported in the Upper Peninsula this morning.  Most of the leaves are down in this area.  The big feeder still glares at me outside the studio window, silent, but persistent in its efforts to guilt me into repairing it.  I’ve successfully put it off all summer and most of fall, but it’s time to do it – before the snow is falling here.  A few birds stop by and occasionally a squirrel, so they remember it, even if I don’t.  Unfortunately, the feeder is beyond the repair stage.  The bears have torn it up so many times that I plan to build another one from scratch.  Of course if I was going to have something made from scratch, I’d much rather it was a pie, or a cake, but then the bears would like that even better.