Cold and Old Photos

The snow in my back yard has melted, and evaporated, down to a level of about two inches; it's only about an inch deep on the north and south sides of the building.  City streets in Boulder are pretty clear; un-plowed side streets are either slushy or snow-packed.  The birds and squirrels are out in force today, and I have food out for both contingents.  My wind chimes at the edge of my patio hang from a large spring, and a small bird was very surprised when it tried to land there this morning.  The chimes rang wildly for almost five minutes, and Nedi was immediately on the look-out in the top of the cat tree.  I'll be heading out to walk Rosie and Lucy shortly; then have to stop by and pick up the key for Bop and Tiko's care next week.
   And a temporary fix for Thursday night's television programming pile-up has occurred - I'll be house-sitting at a place with both a DVR and On-Demand options.  So I'll be able to see all three of the programs that I want to view.  I can either stay up later than usual and watch them all, or I can watch one or two programs (or all three) Friday morning and/or afternoon.  That certainly solves this week's problem; but leaves me in limbo for next Thursday, when the Grand Jury meets again...
  There was snow on Chincoteague Island yesterday, and the Chincoteague Channel is iced in.  My school friend lives on a boat in the Chesapeake Bay, near Virginia Beach, and his marina is almost totally iced in, too.  You know that it's cold when the Chesapeake ices over!  My thoughts and best wishes go to all of my friends on the east coast who are suffering through this historic cold spell with incredible ice, snow, and wind.  At least we have bright sunshine; I have to take my sunglasses with me when I head out today.
    I've spent the last few days digging through family genealogy and reading.  I've found some really neat old photos of family members, and have been connecting cousins in the family tree.  It's been fun.  That's probably how I'll spend this weekend, when we're due to get another foot or so of snow.  In the meantime, a friend shared a website that has 288 glass-negative photos from the American Civil War era - scenes before and after battles, dead and wounded on both sides, and famous places in and around Washington, DC and specific battlefields.  If you'd like to look at this great collection, please visit:  http://www.mikelynaugh.com/VirtualCivilWar/New/Originals2/index.html        At this site, you click on the photo to see the enlargement and the caption - you can move backward and forward through the collection by clicking on next or back  to the left or right of the photos.  I hope that you enjoy this collection.