“In the winter she curls up around a good book and dreams away the cold.”
Today’s is a hunker down day. It is freezing. The actual temperature is 21°, but if you add the wind, it goes down to around 11°. From inside out, the day is a pretty one, a lovely winter’s day with plenty of sun and a deep blue sky. The dogs were quickly out and back inside. Their ears were cold.
When I was a kid, winter Saturdays often meant a matinee at the movie theater uptown. My mother would give us a quarter for the movie and a nickel or a dime for candy. I remember for the quarter we got a cartoon and a movie. I always bought long lasting candy like a Sugar Daddy. It was on a stick and was a hard caramel. You had to chew the end several times to bite off a piece. My favorite part was when I pulled a strand, a long strand.
We got an inch, maybe less, of snow. It has frozen and is now crusty. I may not be able to see the dogs in the yard, but I can hear them. Last night, while it was still snowing, Henry came in a short time after he had gone out. Nala stayed out. I got worried. I yelled Nala out the back door but no Nala. I yelled treats out the back door, and she came running.
I know all the sounds my house makes. I ignore most of them like the hot air blasting from the furnace or the growls of the dogs as they play. Henry is my early warning system. He reacts to everything. He barks. Sometimes I hear an unknown sound. I quiet the TV or I stop reading so I can listen. When Henry doesn’t notice, I feel safe.
My dance card has a few entries. I have a concert tomorrow. I am quite excited as my uke playing of late has been on Zoom. Finally I get to emerge from my self-imposed quarantine. I get to be with people. My coughing has stopped. I don’t get weird looks from the dogs anymore.
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January 20, 2024 at 2:40 pm
Hi Kat,
We finally got up to 33° and we turned off the dripping faucets. My wife’s friend had her house flooded during the ice-meggeddon beginning on Valentine’s Day in 2021. During that miserable winter storm we had electricity for only two hours each day. It took them two years to get back into their house after fighting with their insurance company over what replacement cost really means. We can put up with the drip, drip, of faucets to prevent broken pipes. An ounce of prevention is worth more than a ton of repairs.
I remember my parents sending my sister and I to the movies on Saturday afternoons so they could have a, “Matinée”. 🙂 I remember the Sugar Daddy candy because it would last a very long time. Sometimes, it could last through a double feature as well as all the shorts.
Glad to hear that you are getting back to normal.
January 20, 2024 at 10:03 pm
Hi Bob,
My friends were in Florida for the first winter in their new house. A drip started in their upstairs bathroom. The house was destroyed by water. It was noticed because the water was leaking from the house. It took them 3 years before the work was done and paid for. They never came back from Florida. They sold the house. I actually figured they wouldn’t return even before the house disaster.
My brother and I went to the matinee, but my sisters were a bit too young. They stayed home.
Thanks!!