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Well, the first part of my morning routine is done! I have brushed my teeth, had a bowl of cereal with strawberries, eaten a few almonds, and checked for messages on my phone. Then I turn to the New York Times free version on my phone and scroll through the headlines. I get ten free articles a month to read but, rarely do I use them all. Normally the headlines are enough to tell me what I don’t want to know. What I am really working towards is at the very end — the New York Times mini crossword puzzle. Every morning I get a new one, usually 10 words. I do have to cheat once in awhile and check the answers. That is usually when the word is slang or the author is trying to be ‘cute’ . Those are ones I never get — I can’t read someone’s mind. Anyway, I look forward to it and it is a good way to start my day.
At least today it isn’t snowing!! I was out on Saturday night about 7:30 pushing snow around so I wouldn’t have so much in the morning. It snowed hard and we ended up with at least 10 inches. I have a “leaf blower” sans “snow blower” that takes the light stuff and then a tiny Toro snow blower that takes care of the rest. It can be quite a production, but at least I don’t have to lift the snow with a shovel. Those days are done! Once in awhile a neighbor will come by with a snow blower and do my front walk. That is always much appreciated. There isn’t much to see these days except white. A friend and husband drove to Billings yesterday and she said it was “not nice”. Now to get home again. In the country the snow is starting to drift. It is interesting to me that the Eskimos have multiple names for snow. Our snow here is most often powder dry. There is not a bit of moisture in it. Other times it will be wet and heavy, but that is usually in the Spring when it is supposed to be rain, but was somehow mis-directed and ended up as snow. There is a slight breeze today. Low temps this week are all below -10 degrees, but it will get up to 0 degrees a couple times. It means it is time to “hunker down” and dress warmly.. My robins of several weeks ago disappeared. I am not sure where the birds have been, but I have to admit I haven’t checked the bird feeder for awhile. Meanwhile, “March Madness" works for the NCAA, but its time for high school divisional basketball tournaments in Montana, “February Madness”, so the high schools will be emptying out and heading to the larger communities. The Dawson County High School Red Devils will head for Billings. Those were fun times as a kid. The tournaments brought out the fans and of course going to Billings meant new restaurants and shopping and maybe even one of the newer movies. In the gymnasiums the pep bands played great music and the cheerleaders were in fine form. Of course when the games were over there were State tournaments to look forward to if you were one of the fortunate few teams. Everyone came home with a bug of some kind. School officials knew the gathering of fans from all around was a perfect breeding ground for germs and after a week-end of excitement and no sleep everybody was sick. Well, until the birds come home to roost and the sun starts to warm our frozen air I am here for the duration. Glad I don’t have to drive to churches around the area and can stay and do my work close to home. Unless there is something interesting to see there are no new photos. Everything is white.
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 Unless you live way South you haven't been experiencing the bitter cold of the past few weeks as we have up here in the North. Brother Greg said Nevada has been colder than normal as part of the weather patterns, but of course nothing like here. We were so spoiled with temps in the 40s all through January. To the point we were really beginning to wonder what was going on. Well, of course, you will always get what you ask for and when winter came it came hard. Right now we have had about two weeks with nothing above zero. I know further east it was really severe. Then the word came they were stopping mail delivery for a couple of days in the Dakotas, Minnesota, Illinois, even Missouri, then you knew it was cold! My Chicago cousin worked from home for a couple days as did my niece in Minneapolis because people were not to be out in the bitter weather. Our problem out here on the prairies is wind-chill. There is nothing to stop the wind from blowing. Livestock will travel with the wind and that can get them into trouble by drifting into coulees, fence corners and other places where they bunch up and freeze. Ranchers have to get out with feed for them as of course they eat more when it is cold. On the coldest day last week I looked out my front window and was shocked to see about 15-20 robins flocked together and sitting on my front sidewalk. I had just blown off the snow and thus exposed some plants and seeds along the edges. They were right in there. That was two days in a row. I don't think I have ever seen robins flocking together. In the summer I may see three in the yard at once but that is all. I also had a large downy woodpecker at the bird feeder, a passing blue jay and some smaller birds. It was a busy morning. From the weather people it looks as though we will have a slight warming during the day for the next week. Some odds and ends of snow just to remind us what season it is. But overall it is cold! |
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