The Day it Froze

(February 3)

It is still freezing here. Literally. I know it’s a lot worse in other parts of the country though, so I’m not going to complain about our weather too much. T and I have had the discussion about if we had to choose to be hot or cold what would we choose. I think I would choose heat. And I’m not saying that just because it’s so cold out right now. I’ve thought about this quite a bit throughout my life. I’m much more accustomed to heat than cold and bear it pretty well. When I was growing up my house didn’t have any central air conditioning so on those hot days in the summer I was outside running through the sprinklers and laying in the tiny blow up pool we had. My siblings and I had access to the freezer that was stocked with ice pops and treated ourselves to at least 2 or 3 a day. That doesn’t sound like a whole lot now, but when you’re a kid it’s like having an unlimited supply of sugar. And you don’t have to wear many clothes, especially if you happen to be of the male gender. Girls are expected to wear a tad bit more clothing. A swim suit all day is ok if you’re at home, but please, when in public cover up a little. And wear shoes. I used to be so shocked to see kids walking around on the pavement and in stores without shoes on. It’s not that hard to throw some sandals on…come on parents. It bothered me as a kid and bothers me even more now, as a parent myself, that people clothe themselves but not their children. That is a post for another time.

Those are nice warm memories, but back to reality now. We are staying warm and our animals are faring alright. I went out this morning and checked the chickens and let the sheep out since their water was frozen solid and they needed to run around a little. I decided to go find the cow and calf to see if they were doing ok. The cow is a little wild so I didn’t get close enough to see the calf, but I saw where they were. They were laying behind a round bale of hay my brother brought over keeping out of the wind. I walked up on the bank of the stock tank and when I did about a hundred blue birds and cardinals flew out of the brush; just about scared me silly. I recovered quickly when I realized it wasn’t a mountain lion coming to kill me and counted 17 ducks on the tank. They flew away too, along with a crane. It was a beautiful sight and made braving the cold totally worth it. I’m so happy I get to see that on my morning “commute” instead of angry people honking their horns in backed up traffic.

I have to go break up a fight and put Little Rose’s socks back on her. She has started taking them off every chance she gets.

Happily braving the cold,

Mama