Tuesday, January 10

The temperature on the back porch is pushing 70 degrees this morning. There’s a wind advisory until early afternoon. Wind out of the south will be blowing a weather system north into the plains. I plan to take advantage of this warm weather to run the Deere around the yard one last time before spring. Mulch some leaves, take down some winter weeds, chop up some of the smaller woody parts of the trees that have fallen with the winds of fall.

I do laundry on Tuesdays. And today I find a reason to not envy all of you folks from more temperate regions. Just three or four days of cold weather and my laundry has bulked up to over twice as much as normal. Thermals, fleece, long sleeved tees, it’s one hell of a difference from the normal shorts and muscle shirts I normally run around here in.

It’s also vacuuming day. You might have noticed I didn’t say it was the day I vacuumed, because I don’t. I leave that chore to Rocky, our robot vacuum. My part of that chore is emptying the dust bin everything he goes to his charging station. He does an adequate job in my eyes, if not in Sherry’s. The only downside is Rocky is slow and prone to getting himself stuck in unusual places. When it gets quite, and the poor guy isn’t at his station, it’s time to play hide and seek with a little guy not much bigger than a shoe box who can crawl under furniture…

Well, the sun has broken through the clouds and it’s gotten bright and warm on this porch… even with the guests of wind making the loose leaves dance around me. I had to switch the AC on as I walked out this morning… The house had already begun to pass the outside temp and the sun is only going to make it warmer inside. South facing windows are great in winter as long as winter cooperates and provides cooler weather… they pretty much suck when winter decides to give you summer temperatures.