Sunrise this morning will be at 9:44 and sunset this afternoonat 4:22 for 6 hours 41 minutes of daylight. The sun’s high enough now – 7.6° — to shine in the south window for a couple of hours a day, but the shadows on the inside wall of the house were pretty blurred yesterday, thanks to ice fog in my yard. I was going to go into town Saturday, but we’ve had temperatures below 40 below since Friday afternoon. That means ice fog, with visibility zero in places (such as the highway between where I live and downtown) so I’ve stayed home

There is supposed to be a warming trend today, though there’s nothing as warm as 0°F in sight. I’ll believe it when I see it. I certainly hope I can get into town and do some much-needed shopping today.

Indoors, the Christmas cactus looks ready to bloom, so the cooler temperatures and/or the short days did their work. The sunquat, though blooming, is not setting fruit. Too cool, perhaps? Given that most of the plants would be happy a little warmer, I’ve set the plant room thermostat up a little, and the light timer back to longer days. I am definitely looking forward to summer outdoors!

Update: as of 8:45 AM, the indoor-outdoor thermometer, which has been stuck at LL all weekend, is reading -32°F and the dense fog warning has been cancelled. Maybe I’ll get that shopping done today. On the down side, the main plant room lights seem to have quit.