Random 5 for January 25, 2026 – Snow, food, birds, downsizing, storm

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One of my favorite Calvin and Hobbes winter cartoons!

It’s all around us! – Not love, snow! After weeklong hype, we are in the middle of a snowstorm. It started very early. We had several inches by 6 a.m. We are close to the snow-sleet line so the forecasters don’t know for sure if we will get sleet, which would lessen the total amount of snow we get. They have ruled out freezing rain (which brings the possibility for power outages) for now. It’s very cold. I hope it moves through fast.

Food yay! – Being weathered in is all about the food. It’s prepping for the Super Bowl. We started our day with a French toast casserole and bacon. Yum! We have different choices for the rest of the day. Anything to keep cabin fever away and stoke up the body for snow shoveling.

Birds in the heated birdbath.

It’s about the birds too – I could tell we were getting a storm by the animal activity. The birds are emptying out the feeders at twice the normal pace. I keep the feeders full, so they have the energy for the storm. Even now my deck is covered (the beloved husband calls it infested) with birds. Surprisingly, the cats are not amused.

Birds on feeder although they are hard to see.

Another kind of downsizing – This week we are getting rid of a cat tree. We had three at our last house. There was one on each floor. We brought them all here. Two are in the upstairs cat room. There isn’t a need for a second one. It is an old one that looks shabby but it’s still sad. There were a lot of loved cats that enjoyed that tree. I’m sure their hair is embedded in it.

To all the US folks in the path of the massive storm, stay safe and warm and feed the outside critters.

So how was your week?

74 thoughts on “Random 5 for January 25, 2026 – Snow, food, birds, downsizing, storm”

  4. It’s nice to be hunkered down sometimes. We got about 5 inches, followed by pouring rain and freezing temperatures. That’s a recipe for havoc here at the beaches.

    My bird feeders look have had lines like an all you can eat buffet all weekend. I love watching, especially this time of year when the cardinals pop.

    Stay warm 😊

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  5. Here outside the Boston area we have almost two feet, and the snow has begun again. Been in the single digits. A friend from CA called me today and said she can’t go for a walk because it’s too cold out. 50 degrees. I almost hung up on her. Baby.

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  10. High winds and rain, here, and for some, snow on high ground, but the UK is getting far less of the bad stuff than you all state side.

    Stay safe well and hopefully, on the grid…

    Love the snowman cartoon 🙂

    ERin

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  11. The French toast casserole and bacon and tasty snacks are a good tradeoff for shoveling snow. Why didn’t I think of that? We got almost seven inches of snow here in my area, more than we were expecting. I will sleep good tonight, but this morning went I went out, it was in drifts too – I finally had to break out the tall boots. I’m glad you didn’t get the freezing rain … no one wants that and the damage it brings. Only 57 days ’til Spring … 57 long days.

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    • We have two semi-feral cats that live outside next door. They have a heated hut but my neighbor says they weren’t in it. Hoping they are safe. There is a lot of local deer, racoons, foxes and squirrels. Instincts should keep them safe.

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    • I did a major downsizing recently. I had a lot of metal food dishes, towels, carriers, etc. that I don’t use anymore so they went to the local rescue. I got rid of my large carrier that I bought when I had an 18 pound cat. It was hard for me to manage. One time he somehow got out of it in the car. That was scary! I use my carrier on wheels. Easy for me.

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  16. French toast casserole and bacon sounds great.

    My grandson in Maryland had fun sledding. My daughter tried to send a photo of it as it fell. I was never sure what sleet was. Maybe I’ve never seen it.

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  18. It’s cold here because of the wind and we have rain forecast. Our snow has all gone so I’m glad about that. Next week the car goes in for service, then all the expense of having one over the next few months, tax, MOT, insurance so goodbye to a grand. Never mind. It’s all in the budget and we can’t manage without a car here!
    Shame about the cat tree and the memories.

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  19. Usually June would be bird watching from our up-high window, but all are hiding out “somewhere” for a wee bit of warmth, and even she has traded her spot on her little cat tree for the warmth of a cozy chair as snow (now more sleet-like) falls down on us. Hopefully one and all in our pet community will be safe and secure, along with pets and ferals everywhere as long as this lasts.

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  20. Thanks Heavens they ruled out freezing rain! Maybe you will have an all snow event. It sure is a changing situation on the snow, freezing rain, sleet line. Your French toast casserole sounds delicious. It is always about the FOOD for winter weather. I can’t even think about food when it’s a hurricane heading our way. Hang in there, Kate… can you see the end coming on radar?

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  21. We already got at least 4 inches. From the window it looks lovely. And yes, snacks are keeping me company…cookies and a toasted buttered baguette could change the world. I do worry about strays out there whether they have feet, feathers or paws. It’s so very cold. Pretty soon it will stop and you’ll be able to make your Starbucks run. 🙂

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  22. Our weather gurus said three days of snow and sleet and more snow and sleet…..well, we have close to 4 inches of snow and a layer of sleet on top and have gone from FOUR days of “something” coming down to ending tomorrow morning. SO I guess you could say they cried “wolf” when it came to OUR part of Northern Virginia. Other areas have way more than we got (no I’m not complaining). It’s still lightly sleeting now AND that will be fun (not) because next few days we’re below freezing for a high temp. Guess we did the right thing loading up on groceries. They are also predicting VERY FEW power outages……got our fingers crossed on that one! STAY WARM EVERYONE…….And safe too.

    Hugs, Pam and Teddy (who has lots of extra padding so he’s nice and warm)

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    • So far we are on target. Snow started early as predicted and coming down at a fast rate. The only unknown is the snow-sleet line. It’s close to use so they don’t know if we’ll get sleet which lowers the snow count. At this point, I’m “whatev!” Make it all go away! Is it spring yet?

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  24. We have maybe 7 inches to far at 11:30 am. Still coming down pretty thoroughly. May be a bit before we all dig out of this. I’ve been saying that we need to get a snow blower and hubby resists, but this is the last winter I’m shoveling snow.

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    • Snow blowers aren’t easy either. They are heavy and take a lot of storage room when not in use. I shoveled the deck for bird feeding purposes. Dan is going to go out for a first run at the driveway and front walkway. He will use the blower. It’s big and heavy for me. What I did was light and fluffy but it still made me cranky.

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  25. I love Calvin and Hobbs and have several of the books of Calvin and Hobbs cartoons.

    We have hardly any snow…maybe an inch just now but we have the ice storm instead. Multiple power outages last night. I hoped I could at least make coffee this morning. VOILA! Except the filter folded over and ruined it.

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  27. I thought of that cartoon as soon as I heard SNOW was heading your way.

    If you are still working on your genealogy, you might check out a site my brother has been finding user friendly: FamilySearch.org.

    I haven’t checked it out yet, but understand details of living peeps are kept hidden.

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