It isn't likely to last until the end of the year, a few days from now, but it will snow much of today and tomorrow, and probably linger through the New Year.

It's cold and windy and has been snowing for hours, with hours left to snow in the forecast. It started with big, fluffy flakes in the later morning, and has turned into such a white wash on occasion that it's hard to see through the yard to the neighbor's house very well. It's covered the dog tracks each time they've gone out, giving them fresh powder to plow through each time. The forecast said 8-inches, but I suspect we've already had close to that.

They've already declared a snow emergency, which makes me really glad we've got the Jeeps in the garage. There are a few cars out on the street, and neighbors on both sides have more cars than off-street parking allows, although neither has cars out there right now, so we'll see how that works out. If needed, we've got a bit of space between the back yard and alley, and can share if needed.

I've had a few alerts go off on the underground cameras, those in the crawl space usually looking for mice. I anticipate some visitation with really bad weather, but it was just a spider in all instances. Not sure if it's the same spider, but spiders are good signs that there aren't (many) mice in the house, because the spiders tend to hide or get eaten by the mice. We haven't had a mouse show up on either of the cameras in a month or more, and that mouse really liked the poison block, so I'm sure he wasn't lasting long after he disappeared.

I considered dashing to the Wisconsin house to help deal with whatever might happen, but instead decided to wait until things settle here, snowblower away what I can and must, and then head down there to maybe attempt the same. The last time I did that, I missed a good-weather window and everything turned to ice. It's since been warm for a few days, so hopefully that ice melted enough to run off, and I'll just have to deal with this new snow and whatever the plows leave behind at the end of the drive.

There is a mouse that has run across the main floor a couple times in the last few days at the Wisconsin house. Those cameras aren't quite as good at picking up the mice at the edges, though, but a quick scan hasn't revealed any triggered traps. That'll be something to check while I'm there.

I also need to fetch the DSL router as I cancelled that service today in favor of the cellular connection I added during the last visit. It's not only cheaper, but faster, and while "coming soon" is what their website says about the location, it's proven to be quite reliable and much quicker. The cameras all work fine there, and pop on a bit quicker than the DSL did, although they're still not as awesome as ours, as previously noted.