Feeling the Need, the Need to Read

What does one do during the winter months of coldness and early darkness here in New England?  Read of course, and read I did as I have the past several winters.  (Don't believe me.  See posts from the Spring months of the previous years.)

Below are the books that have been read from November through the writing of this blog.

The Amish Way
The History of Block Island
The Real Mystery of Block Island
New England Outpost:  War and Society in Colonial Deerfield
The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion
The Unredeemed Captive
The Big Burn - America's Worst Forest Fire
The Summer of 1787 - The Men who Invented the Constitution

If you are a studious follower of this blog, you will see a common theme to all these books except one.  What is it?   Stay tuned or make your guesses.

Rocky II

Thursday night, February 28 at 10:45 I was awakened by a sound I had heard twice before (see post from May 2012 for those sagas) and had hoped to never hear again.........a raccoon on our roof ripping at the gable vent.

I got out of bed and started rapping on the ceiling near the vent.  No reaction.  The ripping sound continued.  I opened the window under the vent.  The noise stopped.  Then plop.  There was the raccoon (a good size one at that) staring at me.  It ran to the other side of the garage roof and jumped.  I didn't sleep much after that keeping a listening ear out for its possible return.

When I returned home from work the next day (it's dark when I leave for work in the morning),  I checked out the gable vents.  The work that we had done last summer by a pest and wildlife specialist putting grates over the vents paid off.  No damage!

Here's hoping word gets out around the raccoon community that our house is a no go for them.