"Giles" wrote in message
...
Everybody does it differently. Individuals sometimes do it
differently from year to year. This year I'm doing it.....not
alone.....but without any human company. It feels like alone,
though. The cardinals and the blue jays, the goldfinches, the
solitary common redpoll, the downy and the red-bellied woodpeckers,
the tufted titmice, the juncos, and the omnipresent black-capped
chickadees are nearby (where would they go?) but they left the feeders
hours ago, before dark, to find safe and relatively snug places to sit
out the long cold night. Some of them won't be back tomorrow. The
thermometer out at the end of the elevated walkway to the driveway
reads -5. I don't trust it. The actual temperature could be as much
as ten degrees higher or lower. Personally, I think it's lower. But
it's better than the one stuck to the window. That one only reveals
the temperature of the window pane.....interesting, but not very
useful. Anyway, it doesn't matter much. It's COLD out there. The
only thing I can see moving by the light of the full moon is the smoke
coming out of the flue above the wood burning stove, and even it looks
listless in the chill and still air. Coyotes are singing off in the
distance but they sound especially mournful tonight. Maybe they don't
care much for the new year. Maybe they lament the passing of the
old. Maybe '09 was a very good year for them. Even the great horned
and the barred owls seem to have left off their courtship......haven't
heard so much as a single hoot out them since I arrived this morning.
Lately they've been quite active, getting ready to breed, build nests,
incubate eggs and start rearing their young. Even more surprising,
the gang of crows that usually harass the owls (the ruckus is a
clarion that sends us rushing out the doors to get a look at an owl
when it inevitably tries to escape its tormentors) are entirely
absent.....haven't seen or heard one all day.

Well, maybe they're all resting. Maybe their celebrations start late
and last into the wee hours. Perhaps, just this one night out of the
year, they go into the deep and dark places to do their animalian
things in private, far from the persistent and annoying eyes and ears
of the tourists who so regularly invade their space. If so, they've
certainly picked the right night for it. I'M not going out there to
find them. Too late, too cold, too comfortable here in the house with
the smell of wood smoke and coffee. Too many good books beckoning
from the shelves and from the tables and from the counters and from
the chairs and from places where you can't see them but you can hear
them whispering your name. Mostly, though, too late. It's almost
eleven and I don't have another wakeful hour in me.

Besides, I've been celebrating since I got up and hit the road at six
this morning. Celebrated all through the three hour drive, and every
minute since arrival. Celebrated getting back on the tractor to plow
through the fresh snow that has fallen since I left on Sunday.
Celebrated hauling wood from the pile behind the barn to the one
behind the house. Celebrated my hosts' company for a couple of hours
while they were here and then celebrated their departure when they
left for a dinner engagement in the city. Celebrated eating way too
much real authentic Wisconsin chili (tomato sauce with hamburger,
celery, kidney beans, maybe some onion, and a dash of some wretched
chili powder concoction. I put it on spaghetti. Tasted like home.

Sometime tomorrow Becky and her brother will be rolling in. Larry and
Gisela will be back. Who knows who else might show up? Larry has a
lot of friends. Pretty cold, though. Probably won't be many. That's
o.k. Celebrating can be pretty exhausting.

So, how are YOU celebrating New Year's Eve?

My sister-in-law popped over with the kids, nice dinner, good company,
watched the fire works from the veranda (during a thunder storm), watched
fruit bats coming in from the Botanic Gardens, and watched the odd private
fire work display (not legal so they go off in intermittent short bursts
which adds to the excitement). A great night.
Enjoy the coming year.

Rob.