December 10, 2004. A long absence from this blog is ended. I was prompted to resume when I visited www.fiatmihi.blogspot.com. It has been unseasonably warm, no freezing temperatures for more than half a day. The other day I was walking by the Church Hall and heard a tapping noise. A large crow, a raven, was pecking at the plate glass door. When I passed he flew to the top of the building. Yesterday, while walking the dog, I came across an eviscerated rat by the cemetery, beheaded by a predator. Today I noticed that the Forsythia bushes were opening yellow blossoms here and there, as if it were spring. The most curious piece of nature I observed was that three trees were leaking buckets of sap or gum. I made inquiries, and these trees were wild cherry trees, and they were suffering from gumosis, which is caused by the peach bore. Mature trees will be weakened but survive, while young trees will die.