Winter Life

By the time we get to the middle of February, winter gets old. Pretty, but old.

Calendar by Kate McNenly

I've been enjoying my newest neighborhood critter, Bunny FooFoo. Well, probably he won't stay Bunny FooFoo for long -- he seems far too masculine for that! 

He runs between the two fences outside, and on occasion he is chased by someone's fluffy white dog (which looks far more FooFoo than Peter Rabbit!) Poor dog doesn't stand a chance, thank goodness. Our big bun can run!

Our biggest issue of late has been ice. I somehow managed to get stuck on it when leaving my driveway. Fortunately, an earth angel came along and gave me a great tip -- pull out the floor mats and put them under the wheels and hit it. It took a couple of tries but it worked. The roads have been terrible -- a 30 car pileup on the highway near me, little fender benders elsewhere.

I don't know why all the stop lights in what we call the malfunction junction were out at rush hour last Friday, but it sure caused a mess and a huge slowdown as cars (behaving nicely, for once) took turns gong one-by-one through one of our most accident-prone intersections, and then another. Police were directing traffic at a third. (Probably there wasn't an officer with a brain in his head who would get in the street at the malfunction junction unless forced!)

Rick got back on Saturday and I picked him up at the bus stop. He sat in the back seat with a mask (I was masked too) and we rode home with the windows open. I couldn't let him walk in 10 degree weather in his spring coat and no hat. We'll be fine. He got his negative PCR test results yesterday so we will now be able to celebrate Valentine's Day. Meanwhile, I got to attend to his Christmas present picked out personally by the Camster. I think I got the better end of the deal. Beautiful blooms and no travel!

I've been having fun with a good New Yorker puzzle called "The Art Store" by Robert Kraus. It's not a terribly hard one but these puzzles can be a little tricky. I'm enjoying it.

One of the smartest things I ever did was pick up some ice cream cups at Dollar Tree last year. I sort the pieces -- some by color or edge or how it relates to a certain area of the puzzle (like the "New Yorker" title). It keeps them from prying kitty paws and easy to work on a section at a time.

While watching "All Creatures Great and Small" and a few other things (not the least of which is the Olympics -- I love seeing people do things I have no interest in doing myself), I've been doing a little felting from a kit I got on sale after Christmas. These are cute little balls. I'm making up my own design with the materials and will probably make more when these are done.

Five months after it started, Lizzie is still thinking outside the box. She's only nine, so it's not old age. We tried a medicine, thinking it might be something biological but all the tests were negative. It's not that she can't get up and down the steps -- she's happy to go down on her own for Number Two but I have to either carry her down (or practically push her!) to get her to go down for Number One. 

She does it just fine once she gets there. But she's just a stubborn girl and prefers the family room to the basement. I now have puppy pads on the area she likes and that seems to work. It's not attractive but should I ever have company again, I can time her pretty well and pick them up. 

I've muddled for almost two months about what word to choose as a guiding word for 2022. I know it should be something upbeat like "Connect" or "Discover" or some of my past words, "Hope" and "Hygge." But one word has been sticking in my head since before the New Year and try as I may, I can't shake it, despite its slogging, glum feeling.

Yes. Endure. At the holidays, we were reflecting on a word or two to describe the past year. (I said "Schizophrenic.") My friend Jan said, "Endure." And it's what I feel about 2022. Endure it. Slog through the isolation, the news, the doc appointments, the uncertainty. Just endure it. So, I will do my best -- not only to endure, but to endure with grace and optimism. (Which is a little bit more positive!)

Speaking of enduring, we are enduring winter. Well, I am. Rick is reveling in it, finally happy to be back skiing and having enough snow to do so. But I will admit, it's pretty.

I leave you with this... a look into my back yard during a snow. Yet another reason why I should have washed windows far better than I did in the fall. There is a reason I was a communications person and not a videographer at work and I apologize for the more than occasionally bouncy video! (You might want to take your dramamine before viewing. But the snow was so pretty, I had to share.)

Stay cozy and well. (By the way, if you haven't picked up your free government-supplied N-95 masks, don't forget! I found mine at Rite-Aid. Three per family member -- and they don't keep track of how many family members you have. They had them at the front counter.)

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