Hibernal Journal: Week 5

It is the wiser man that understands winter always wins, and the prideful one likely to lose fingers and toes trying to prove otherwise.

Sunday, 01/19/2025:

Sunrise was at 7:11 a.m., under mostly clear skies, the air was still, and the temperature was 31° under a winter storm warning that promised some amount of snow accumulation. The sunset will occur at 4:42.

It was relatively mild for a mid-January day. The sun was warm, and the snowstorm didn't move into the area until late afternoon, so me and Alice had plenty of opportunity for fresh air and outdoor time. Plenty of much-needed housework was accomplished, and we had plenty of opportunity to sit on the porch and be pelted by Frosty little snow crystals as the storm began to move in after dark. Once she was out in the snow, like even the most enthusiastic of young human children, Alice fought tooth and nail to resist coming in the house once I had had enough of the sharp wind. I didn't want to go in either, but there's a fine line between youthful enthusiasm and hypothermic dumbassery.

Observation of the day:

As with many things in life, feelings about inclement weather are relative; where it might be "too much" for the underprepared, there is never enough of it for those seeking to completely immerse themselves in it.

Monday, 01/20/2025:

Sunrise was at 7:10 a.m., under mostly clear skies, winds were just under 20 miles an hour, and the temperature was 14°, making it feel like two below zero. The sunset will occur at 4:43.

It was a typical late January day. Temperatures briefly made it to the low 20s, but it was otherwise in the teens for much of the day. The snow cover provided plenty of opportunity for Alice to get some exercise. She rolled around in it, ate as much of it as she could, jumped up and down, and flailed all around as if it were the greatest moment in her life. In the hours after sunset, the temperature dropped dramatically, down into the single digits, and our last visit to the porch at bedtime was not a lengthy stay; it's an amazing thing to watch a dog built for this sort of weather to be so hypersensitive to the sounds and smells that only her superior senses can detect. With the streets quiet, distant Highway sounds subdued by the intensely cold air, she was "busier" than she had been all day, and I just relaxed and enjoyed watching her snap her head back and forth, look all around, and randomly bark at things that only she even knew was out there in the dark somewhere.

Observation of the day:

Before you convince yourself you have come to appreciate and admire the harsh extremes of short days and frigid temperatures, take pause and observe closely the dynamics of the relationship between your dog and the winter season; we have become far too civilized to appreciate the depth and beauty of the relationship between the animal kingdom (beyond sapiens) and the natural world in which they live and thrive.

Tuesday, 01/21/2025:

Sunrise was at 7:10 a.m., under mostly clear skies and light winds, and the temperature was -2°. The sunset will occur at 4:44.

Today was Emma's first day back with us after having been separated because of my COVID-19 journey to hell and back again. Mostly recovered now, although not yet having fully regained my strength, it was heartwarming to have her back and just enjoy watching the two of them clearly happy to be with each other again after 10 days apart. We spent more time indoors because it was so bitter cold, but the time we did spend together out in the yard as they picked right up where they left off, standing up on their hind legs and dive-bombing each other like two grizzly bears in the woods made the air temperatures seem like an afterthought.

Observation of the day:

The more readily we let go of the need to believe we must always be in control of ourselves and our surroundings, the more quickly we come to appreciate the beauty and wonder of the smallest of things.

Wednesday, 01/22/2025:

Sunrise was at 7:09 a.m., under mostly clear skies, the air was still, and the temperature was -7°. The sunset will occur at 4:46.

With just over a week to go before February gets underway, 7° below zero at sunrise is not all that uncommon. Having said that, it does not mean that any real joy can be found in sitting on the porch over coffee with your best friend just to say you did. Me and Alice went out, as we do every morning, so she could attend to her biological needs, but she beat me back to the porch, perfectly content to go right back in. Like me, she had decided coffee in the house was a perfectly acceptable way to start our day. Me and the girls sat on the porch to enjoy the sunset together, temperatures having just barely climbed above 20°, and the three of us agreed it had been wise to choose the indoors as the better venue for the day's activities.

Observation of the day:

It is the wiser man that understands winter always wins, and the prideful one likely to lose fingers and toes trying to prove otherwise.

Thursday, 01/23/2025:

Sunrise was at 7:08 a.m., under cloudy skies, the air was still, and the temperature was 14°. The sunset will occur at 4:47.

Comparatively speaking, today marked the beginning of a stretch of days that will feel like a heatwave. Temperatures will make it well into the twenties and 30s, with plenty of sunshine over the next several days. Emma stayed with us last night for the first of what will be a 10-day sister sleepover. Her humans will be vacationing in Las Vegas, and the three of us plan to do what we always do: romp and wrestle, torture the cats, take plenty of naps, eat like fat kids on Halloween night, and watch the sun rise and set together as the days pass.

Observation of the day:

The greatest of days can sometimes be those in which the least amount of effort is invested in deriving any joy from them.

Friday, 01/24/2025:

Sunrise was at 7:07 a.m., under clear skies, the air was still, and the temperature was 6°. The sunset will occur at 4:48.

My time on the porch with the girls before sunrise is the first of several "favorite" parts of the day. The roads are quiet, the sidewalks are empty, and the natural world of which we are tiny parts is calm and still. As I remind the girls every morning, stolen from a popular TV series(Stranger Things), "mornings are for coffee and quiet contemplation."My Paperboy, at least 10 years my senior, typically arrives while we are sitting on the porch having coffee together sometime around 6:00 a.m. This morning, there was a replacement driver I had never seen before, and he came to a skidding stop in front of the house, jumped out of the car, and sprinted toward the porch before my brain(and the brains of Alice and Emma) had a chance to process what was going on. Before I understood what was happening, the girls were on their feet barking like crazy people and scared the poor guy half to death as he jumped back, fearing for his poor life. While I appreciate that it might be impolite to laugh at the panic and fear of another, I cannot bring myself to apologize for my inability to control my laughter, trying to choke it down as I explained to the poor guy that the girls were harmless and that he could just throw the paper up on the porch, and that I would bring it inside after he left. It took me a good 10 minutes to stop giggling as I thought about how long it was going to take him to get his heart rate back down once he had gotten back in the car and driven off.

Observation of the day:

While order, routine, and repetition might bring comfort to creatures of habit, don't let these things keep you from relishing those occasions when you are presented with the opportunity to swan dive out of your comfort zone should they arise.

Saturday, 01/25/2025:

Sunrise was at 7:07 a.m., under clear skies, the air was still, and the temperature was 0°. The sunset will occur at 4:49.

Me and the girls split our day between frequent but short stays in the yard and napping on the floor next to me while I caught up on a few writing projects that I had been putting off but really needed to get caught up with. I was woken up at 2:30 a.m. because Alice felt it was a perfectly good time to start the day. I disagreed and told her to go back to bed. Then it was Emma at 3:30 a.m., and then both of them at 4:30, which ultimately convinced me my options had run their course. I assured them there would be a long and early nap in our future while they were tending to their biological affairs, and I kept that promise about 6 hours later. I worked through my to-do list well enough that we were able to share the sunset, after which I had my dinner, and they had theirs. We watched a movie together, took our final trip to the yard and the porch, and ended the day discussing how many things we might be able to get away with not doing when we got up the next morning.

Observation of the day:

While there might be such things as Fast Lanes and Slow Lanes in our sometimes busy and chaotic lives, it is most often the one-lane dirt road that takes us most quickly to serenity and inner peace.

Weekly PostScript:

The subtlety and nuance of Mother Nature, especially during her winter season, are easily overlooked because of the bitterly cold weather extremes and all the ways we change our routines to account for them. The rate at which minutes are added to the beginning and end of the days go by easily unnoticed. Sunrise comes earlier, only a minute or two at a time, while sunset comes later each day by handfuls of minutes. While there may be no subtlety in Sub-Zero wind chills or nuance that comes with one or two minutes more of daylight, perhaps the most extraordinary beauty of Winter's evolution is her defiant unpredictability. There is no small amount of beauty and wonder in that.