Black Ice Morning

Temperature reached 49F yesterday, no record but not your typical January day in Maine. Stuff melted. Temperatures below freezing last night. Stuff froze. Occasional spots of "wheee!" out on the roads and sidewalks, periodic flights of the air ambulance overhead...

Several deaths already, people falling through treacherous ice on the lakes and ponds.

Showers forecast for today and tomorrow.

I mentioned the record warmth for 2006 -- didn't add that the year also set a record for lowest snowfall amount. You may recall my continual bitching over the lack of ski-worthy surfaces...

Got a nice email this morning, a lady out in Oregon who bought DRAGON'S EYE on a whim, read it, and promptly went out and scarfed up DRAGON'S TEETH, SUMMER COUNTRY, and WINTER OAK. That sort of behavior warms the cockles of a writer's heart.

That'll never fit

Wife and I were out for a walk yesterday and spotted a box on the curb, awaiting the sanitation engineers. (Yes, Ms. Doyle, we are urban. We have trash collection. Sometimes.)

Wife looked at me, I looked at her, we both shook our heads. Box label: Cat's Pride. We agreed -- you'd need a box at least as large as Connecticut...