Weird atmospheric phenomenon Saturday night. When I first saw it I thought it was the Northern Lights. But they were in the west, and in fact all around, and the sky was overcast. Everywhere in the city columns of light were shooting vertically into the sky, like lasers. It must have been the combination of ice crystals in the air and the stiill night that was causing any bright light on the ground to project itself straight up.

I’m sitting at my computer watching a squirrel spin around on the suet feeder we have suspended in space from the tree. He jumps from the trunk to the feeder and grabs onto the cage that holds the suet. He’s hanging upside down enjoying a nice meal. Bushy tailed tree rat.