Oh my stars!

As often happens with bitter cold in winter here, the sky is crystal clear tonight. Venus was spectacular just after sunset, calling to mind for me the story of Eärendil in Tolkien, the origin of the evening star. In the new moon, it seems so bright that it might almost cast shadows all by itself. Orion is high in the southwest, probably one of the best recognized and certainly brightest of constellations. Only the "big dipper" (properly Ursa Major) is better known I think. I had brief thoughts about hauling my telescope out from the barn loft, but it is just too cold out there. The only reason I was out after sunset was that I had been doing the animal chores alone and underestimated the extra time I would need for hauling water by myself.

Gary is at his mom's place in Chicago tonight, having stayed here last week so he didn't think he could skip again. She needs his help with groceries and getting her prescriptions. I'm most grateful that he filled up the wood rack in the garage before leaving, as I need the woodstove tonight for sure.

Today was the deadline for libraries to make a decision whether to join our rebel group or stay with the main flock. One that had declared an intention to join us was forced to back down by a deadlock among its board members. So it's now official, there are eight of us. We serve a geographically contiguous region and are used to working together and using a common catalog database. I expect things to go pretty smoothly from here on with that.

And I think that's the limit of my tolerance for sitting in this chilly room where the computer is, so I'm going back to the stove and the dogs.