That’s what my new high tech furnace-a/c system says it is outside now.  NOAA is reading ten at BWI airport too.  But the house is staying pretty warm.  Just the usual cold spots near the front and back walls and even those aren’t really cold so much as a bit chilly.  But it looks like death outside.  The sun is out and bright and the sky is cloudless but the only things moving are the tree branches in the wind and the birds around my feeders.  I don’t even want to think about what the wind chill is right now.  NOAA says it can be as much as 5 below.

A downy woodpecker was scouting out my suet feeder a moment ago.  It had itself fluffed up almost to the point its body looked like a little round ball of black and white feathers.  It lit on the feeder and then for some reason flew right back off.  Those things are shyer then I am.  I’m going to put out a second suet feeder in a little bit.  I already need to refill the thistle seed feeders the gold finches use.  Just thinking about going out in that is giving me the shivers.