There is a joke in there somewhere. My apologies to Willy Shakespeare and his Scottish play, but the story goes like this, Jane wanted Anne to cut some balsam boughs and by this morning, this tree had marched on the cabin. Also, by this morning, Cloverland’s forestry work crew had arrived. I was long since up, not being able to sleep in the still silence that magically appeared after the big blow had finally concluded.

I got up at three and went down to the beach to look for northern lights, but no joy. The forecast was wrong. I tried doing some astrophotography, but that also did not work. In the end, I just sat back and looked at the stars. With my new bionic eyes, I was able to see the Pleiades, all seven of them and a satellite too. Maybe one of the new satellites launched by SpaceX.

I went back to bed but never got back to sleep. The eerie silence was too deafening. The gulls are gone, already headed south, no longer around to announce the dawn. Except for a few juvenile stragglers that are left. Yesterday, when I was still lying in bed when a Bald eagle had swept in low, below the treetops and riled the crows who were cawing loudly. It was probably hunting one of those delinquent gulls, or maybe a crow. That would explain their noise.

Change of plans, Jane will be available to be up here a week from tomorrow. Anne confirmed this appointment with Anita of Roy. We will be gone by then, back in Saint Louis. This sprawling electrical project is coming together fast. No minute like the last minute. There are a lot of weird noises outside, but you can really smell the balsam. It smells like a Ted Drewes X-mas tree lot.