Zero Degree Days

MUD, Christmas 1947

Almost every morning, I go out to fetch the paper and take a hand full of food for the outside cat. It keeps him outside and I can close the garage door without a garage kitty. This morning even the lure of food couldn't keep him out with the temperature at or near zero. In fact when I tried to show him a warm place to be, he bit me. I think he thought I was trying to lure (or throw) him outside. It wasn't one of those bites that draws blood, only the kind that says you don't hurt me, I won't hurt you. This weather is more like what we have in mid January and way too early to be this cold.

The juncos are here early this morning picking up any stray thistle seeds beneath the finch feeder. Before it got too cold, there was a possum that would come each night but at zero, that possum is playing possum somewhere down in the woods. A fluffed up finch just showed up to see if there was anything worth eating. I just went out and filled the suet block feeder as they had pecked that basket empty in one day. There were two red bellied woodpeckers sitting on the porch post that didn't fly off and lose their position in line. There is almost always one on the post and one on the feeder all day.

What is it that brings out the insanity of people when the roads are slick? I drove to the Post Office and the Grocery store yesterday and returned home safely. There were a bunch of accidents out there and one that left two in critical condition. One truck slid down an off ramp and almost totaled a police car parked by another accident. It ain't the getting too fast that's the problem people, its the stopping. You would think 4 wheel drive would some how equate to 4 wheel stop. Not so much. It just means that you are in a 4 wheel skid faster. If your wheels aren't in contact with anything that provides friction, you are just going to go whatever direction you were headed. Oh well.

I am kind of keeping track of what kind of mail we get. So far this week it has been only bills and Holiday shopping guides. No, wait, Barb got one letter from the Master Gardner's and it was a photo copy of an e-mail. If that isn't irony, I don't know what is. They have her e-mail address and should have sent it to her as an e-mail. It was a wasted 37 cents.

Yesterday when I was at the Post office, a guy bought a book of stamps. You know, those forever stamps that are forever good for one first class postage. (Or until you lose them in the desk) I told him to make sure that once he used up the stamps on the front of the paper to be sure to look on the back. It is covered with stamps too. I'll bet a lot of people take off the last stamp on the front of the paper and throw it away. Another guy asked the head guy if they needed him to deliver anything. He said he was a retired postal worker and does part time work during the holidays. There were two customers in the post office and three people at the counter. The rest of the world was home safely with the exception of the idiots mentioned earlier. Just for the record, the paper said that fully equipped, the police cars are just shy of $40,000. Those computers, radios and shotguns are expensive.

MUD