Back with a vengence

Winter has returned.

It came back at around 2 am when the very large tree (usually containing irritatingly chipper bird) slammed against my bedroom window, causing me to sit bolt upright in bed and shriek. Then the heavens opened, and all I heard for the next four hours while attempting desperately to sleep was someone clearly throwing bucket after bucket of water against my window. The tree also felt the need to say hello, to make sure that I knew it was there, always just as I was finally getting back to sleep. Then, right before my alarm was due to go off, irritatingly chipper bird decided that he really, seriously, needed to greet the day. In gale force winds. In the pouring down rain.

Well. At least one of us was excited when it went from blackish-gray to lighter-gray.