It's difficult to get a good measurement of the snowfall because the wind has caused so much drifting. I'll say that it's about half a foot, but there's a two-foot drift blocking the side door.. Mike's been by with the plow already. The schools in our town have a two-hour delay. (The kids are not looking forward to more snow days. If they lose any more days to snow, they'll have to make up the time with Saturday classes or a shorter April vacation.) We postponed last night's trip to the Phillipston Conservation Commission for two weeks.

It's the wind, though, and the cold that makes it interesting. The temperature is just below zero. When we have a strong northwest wind, we get a downdraft in the stove. The downstairs filled with smoke briefly, but I was able to get enough windows open to air the place out before the smoke detectors went off. Now the downstairs is colder than it was before I started the fire. Once the fire gets going and the stove pipe gets hot, the smoke will flow in the proper direction.

It's a little discouraging to realize that the World Database of Happiness can fit in a Microsoft Access database. For those of you familiar with Access, you know that:

a) It isn't very big.
b) Only one person at a time can add to it.
c) It's easily corrupted

So, in this ever-changing world, we can take comfort that some things are just what they say they are: chicken (PDF document).

Our niece, Lori, has been keeping a journal of her life and times as she makes the move from New York to Los Angeles. She's done some good, fresh, and sharp writing.