Right before Christmas we were on our way to the grocery store in Rockland and drove past Chickawaukie Pond. Being close to the coast it is one of the last ponds in the area to get a winter coat of ice. This morning it was partly skimmed with ice with several open holes along route 17. The other unusual thing about Chickie is that for some reason a flock of American coots gathers there in the late fall each year. Coots are not unusual in most of the country but that is the only place I have ever seen them in our area.
I have been reading The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb for the last week or so. It is an interesting idea given the recent economic turmoil. For a description of the idea visit this link in Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan_theory
No doubt about it; we are guaranteed to have a white Christmas. Sunday’s storm put 16 to 18 inches on top of the few inches we got on Friday. Without a doubt we will be white on the big day. The most notable thing about the most recent storm was the drifting. The snow was waist deep behind the office when I shoveled a path to the dog kennel. Temperatures are cold with lows in the single numbers and slightly below zero each night and it seems like the wind is always blowing. I guess that winter is here to stay. Luckily I covered the boat and had done a temporary repair on the garage roof.
