Just Getting Started

That's right, almost nine inches

If we are only six days into the official start of winter, what do we have to look forward to in the middle of winter?  I mean, seriously, I've lived in the southeastern United States, Georgia and Florida almost all my life, and the worst months are typically February (I like the name Febu-ugly), and March.  The real cold and nasty kind of precipitation usually didn't occur until then.

So what do we have to look forward to come the end of January?  I have been looking at the weather reports in England and our own Eastern Seaboard.  Florida citrus growers look to be in for a really hard time if this trend continues.  The combination of cold and drastic increases in fuel prices will make trying to save their trees nearly impossible without going into bankruptcy.

I would imagine right now that the vast majority of people living in the flyover country of these United States would like to see some very sudden evidence of global warming. Even people who have been conned into believing the idiotic notion that carbon dioxide has anything to do with increasing atmospheric temperature would be happy to build enough fires to pump as much CO2 into the air as possible if it would give us some relief from this cold.  Alas, that's not the problem.  What we need is for our sun to increase solar flare activity, which it hasn't done for over a year now.

I had kinda figured, based on all my previous years, that I had at least through the month of January to cut and stack wood, albeit in some cold and with some occasional rain.  But I did not count on the idea that I would be spending so much time clearing nine to twelve inches of snow just to get at the wood to cut it.

It never got above 24° F yesterday, and there were occasional flurries all day long.  The low this morning was 17° and the forecast calls for 12° overnight.  This snow isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"Beau" the new stray we sorta adopted. He's very shy.

I know that if you are visiting this blog and you live somewhere like Minnesota or latitudes farther north or south of the equator than mine, you probably think I'm a wimp.  I don't care.  I'm sure that I could adapt to living in the gloriously beautiful State of Alaska if I thought it was necessary or that's where God wanted me, but since He hasn't made that clear, I think the idea of living in any climate other than the South Pacific Islands or the Caribbean is crazy if you don't have to.

Beau is starting to come a little closer to us each time we come outside.  I watched from the corner of the house well up above the yard as he and Moxie played in the snow. They are just the best of friends.  But the closest he is to being ours is that we put a bowl of food out for him and he sleeps in a nest of hay up under the front porch where it's dry and relatively well sheltered. He seems less afraid of Twyla, so because I hung back behind her and waited for him to get a little closer, I was able to get this shot.

I look like an extra from Lord of the Rings

I'm trying not to exert myself too much or do anything stupid to hurt myself further.  I do seem to be healing as well as can be expected.  I move slowly and carefully outside in the snow.  I couldn't help myself when it came to plucking a long icicle off the eave of the house and bringing it onto the porch to show Twyla.  I'm not dressed to impress anybody as if I'm heading to town.  I've got on the abdominal brace that limits my movement and gives me enough support to not end up so sore, but dang it, the thing makes me look like I'm pregnant with a baby elephant.  I look like a candidate for that "People of Wal-Mart" photo site.  Must remember to stay on the back side of the camera.