Late at Night

Late at night when the house is rocked by sleep, I am awake, thinking and
sometimes doing.  I woke up at 0100 and decided to cut my hair.  I couldn't
locate my sissors, so I used my kitchen shears.  Before you think I'm nuts--
I end up going to get it cut twice.  I have very fine and extremely thick hair.
One cutting is just getting started.  I thought I would save myself about 25.00.
I left it shaggy, uneven--but one could tell I was desperate for a cut.  So when
I told what I had done, getting worked into her schedule was easy.  So now it
is precisely the length I wished it to be.

Last night, Daisy paid me back for disturbing her sleep.  She woke me at 0330.
I had slept just long enough to feel rested, thirsty, so I got up with the cat, who
promptly curled up in her bed under the desk and went back to sleep.  I was
wide awake.

Last night was our first frost.  The begonias died.  I am going to get more
next spring, but in large pots that can come in in the winter--and plant them
in full sun.  I will find some colorful shade plant to plant in the planters on
the front porch.  I was walking in the front yard with my daughter, talking
about the hemlock trees at the edge of my front yard.  She told me that
they had  woolly adelgid.  (This killed 80% of the hemlocks in the
Shenandoah National Forest after its arrival in the 1980's.)  The woolly
adelgid takes only 5 years to completely kill a full grown hemlock.

From Wikipedia is the following:

Hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae), commonly abbreviated as HWA, is a true bug native to East Asia that feeds by sucking sap from hemlock trees (Tsuga spp.). In eastern North America, it is a destructive pest that poses a major threat to the eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) and the Carolina hemlock (Tsuga caroliniana). The range of Eastern Hemlock extends north of the current range of the adelgid, but there are fears that the adelgid could spread to infect to these northern areas too. Accidentally introduced to North America from Asia in 1924, HWA was first found in the eastern United States some decades later. In Pennsylvania, for example, the earliest record is from 1967.^[1] The pest has now been established in eleven eastern states from Georgia^[2] to Massachusetts, causing widespread mortality of hemlock trees. As of 2007, 50% of the geographic range of eastern hemlock has been impacted by HWA.^[3]
The presence of HWA can be identified by its egg sacs, which resemble small tufts of cotton clinging to the underside of hemlock branches. Hemlocks stricken by HWA frequently shift to a grayish-green appearance rather than the dark green of healthy hemlocks. In North America, the hemlock woolly adelgid reproduces asexually and can have two generations per year. (In its native habitat in Asia, there is a third winged generation called Sexupera; this generation requires a species of spruce not found in the Eastern United States to reproduce, so it does not survive here.) Between 100 and 300 eggs are laid in the woolly egg sacs beneath the branches. Larvae emerge in spring and can spread on their own or with the assistance of wind, birds and/or mammals. In the nymph stage, the adelgid is immobile and settles on a single tree. ^[1][4]
The hemlock woolly adelgid feeds on the phloem sap of tender hemlock shoots. It may also inject a toxin while feeding. The resulting desiccation causes the tree to lose needles and not produce new growth. In the northern portion of the hemlock's range, death typically occurs four to ten years after infestation. Trees that survive the direct effects of the infection are usually weakened and may die from secondary causes.<sup>[5]

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For now, I wait.  Even trimming off dead branches needs to wait until early spring.

All for tonight.