This Monday morning is the first time this season that the birds’ water dish has been frozen solid. I watched as a thirsty squirrel arrived for a drink. He (she?) was very surprised to find ice and no water and very slowly went all the way around the dish. After sitting for several minutes the squirrel began to very deliberately chew the edge of the ice – its sharp teeth cutting away the edge and finally finding water underneath. He drank a long time before going out under the big tree to find some leftover seeds from yesterday. Time to get out the water heater and plug it in.

The past few days have been “catnip time;” Nancy Zorena of Monroe supplies the dried stalks of wild catnip and Ed Caffey brings them up so I can strip the leaves from the stems and pack the catnip in packages for the Monroe Historical Society’s Christmas Boutique. This year I have ended up with an even 100 – enough to make a lot of cats contented! People come looking for catnip at the fair and some buy a year’s supply.

Former Monroe resident Merwin Lodge continues to enrich the Historical Society’s possessions by sending occasional packages of treasures from the past, related to the town and area. Such items as maps, beautifully preserved old deeds, letters, and other paper goods are included.

This week a box included some nice old buttons and several pieces of old-style jewelry, which made me think of my great-grandmother. She had similar pieces and kept them on her bureau in an old wooden jewelry box. All of these things will be cleaned up and polished and used for displays in the future. How nice it is for a person to share these treasures in order to maintain connections with yesteryear.

We badly need rain in this area, but it has certainly been a great autumn so far weatherwise. Not so in Vermont. Talking to Laurie, the daughter who lives in the upper Vermont area, she said the ground was all white when she awoke that morning. As we talked, it was still snowing and the sun was trying hard to shine. Time up there to get the studded tires on; put the bag of sand and a shovel in the trunk, along with a small box of “emergency clothing” for those nights when it is more prudent to stay with a friend near Burlington than to travel the long commute home.

Laurie’s other excitement was to share her story of the owl that was in a tree next to her clothesline as she hung out her wash at dusk.

The owl obligingly flew to another nearby tree, giving her time to get her binoculars from her car. The dark eyes of the bird told her it is a barred owl and hopefully he might stay around and intimidate the red squirrel that gives Laurie so much grief!

As we get into the routine of winter and cold weather, our activities change. Wendy helped Susan move her desk and computer and printer to a more accessible place the other night. There’ll be more emails going back and forth and more indoor activities. Wendy has been on a “sewing bee” and has made bibs and potholders for the coming Society fair. Evenings now are longer and the Monopoly game, checkerboard, and the jigsaw puzzles will appear, involving all members of the family.

As the changes of each season take place, our routines make room for the changes.

The closing works of last week’s column were by H.L. Mencken, an editor, when he wrote his own obituary.

Who said, “America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, human rights invented America”?