Hibernal Journal: Week 7

Comply with her dress code, and the two of you will get along swimmingly.

Sunday, 02/02/2025:

Sunrise was at 6:59 a.m., under clear skies, the air was still, and the temperature was 2° with a "feels-like" temperature of -5°. The sunset will occur at 5:00.

It was one of those mornings; with a feels-like temperature below 0°, the girls scrambled to the yard to do their business, and we came right back inside to attend to the coffee routine before breakfast was served. The day progressed nicely, with temperatures making it to 20° by early afternoon. There was no sunset to watch because clouds had moved in, but snowfall started right around bedtime, so the three of us had the chance to watch it for a little while before heading upstairs for the night. Because of the earlier temperatures, each of the outdoor sessions with the girls consisted of biological processes followed by 5-minute wrestling matches before heading back inside, making it more or less just like every other day these last couple of weeks.

Observation of the day:

Spontaneity might be the spice of life, certainly in our youth, but no shame exists wherever reveling in sameness and routine becomes normal once you've aged enough to understand why.

Monday, 02/03/2025:

Sunrise was at 6:58 a.m., under partly cloudy skies, the air was still, and the temperature was 21°. The sunset will occur at 5:01.

It made it above freezing on Emma's last day staying with us while her humans were on vacation. It was a beautiful day, and we spent some quality time hanging out under Bruce, just enjoying each other's company- the girls violently and me peacefully- and we squeezed in an amazing extended nap. Watching the cars go by and people coming and going in low 30° temperatures is not a bad way to spend your day if you can get away with it. Hanging out with Bruce, sitting out on the veranda, is a great spot because we are far enough off the road that we don't have to engage humanoids directly (it's impossible to miss the girls, but I'm practically invisible), and that's just the way I like it. There is no chance of enjoying any sense of "quiet," but "peace" wraps itself around you like your most favored blanket filled with holes you can't bring yourself to throw away.

Observation of the day:

Once you come to appreciate, at face value, everything that's going on around you and lose all sense of what you think and how you feel about it you begin to realize just how insignificant you really are in the general scheme of things.

Tuesday, 02/04/2025:

Sunrise was at 6:57 a.m., under clear skies, with a gentle breeze, and the temperature was 33°, making it feel like 27°. The sunset will occur at 5:02.

Me and Alice were out early this morning, a little earlier than usual, and it is always nice to be greeted by silent roads and quiet distant highways. Emma was dropped off at her normal time, but you would have thought they hadn't seen each other in weeks; the total thrill and happiness those two had when they'd been apart for only a short 15 hours was something to behold. It was a typical day: frequent trips outside for brief grizzly bear dive-bombing sessions and a glorious midday nap. One of the perks to Sunset occurring a little bit later each day, especially in the throws of a heat wave in the thirties (as opposed to near zero), makes the sunset viewing experience for the three of us all the more appreciated and enjoyed.

Observation of the day:

Even when a day isn't especially special or out of the ordinary, the company you keep when you're not doing anything important makes all the difference in how memorable it might become.

Wednesday, 02/05/2025:

Sunrise was at 6:56 a.m., under clear skies, with a gentle breeze, and the temperature was 10°, making it feel like -2°. The sunset will occur at 5:04.

When me and Alice opened the front door and were slapped in the face with two-degree weather (this was not our first rodeo), we did what any mammal with a deep and humble respect for Mother Nature's winter season would do. Alice tended to her business, and we ran back inside so I could drink my coffee in the house... As my grandmother used to say when I was growing up, "I may be dumb, but I ain't stupid." We have nothing to prove to Nature anymore; me and Alice can take Winter's best shots, but, as Kenny Rogers reminds us, we have humbly been taught by her wrath to "know when to walk away and know when to run. " Winter always wins. It warmed up enough by late afternoon that the three of us were able to spend some time enjoying the sunset, and we decided between us that it was a fair compromise to leave her to her business during the day in exchange for being allowed to watch her wind down her work for the evening.

Observation of the day:

Testing Winter is a losing proposition, but once you come to understand her dialect, you can at least figure out ways to work around her unforeseen ferocity.

Thursday, 02/06/2025:

Sunrise was at 6:54 a.m., under clear skies, the air was still, and the temperature was 4°. The sunset will occur at 5:06.

It was another bitter cold start to the day, and, like yesterday, we did a quick loop for Alice to take care of business, and we came right back inside for our quality time of coffee and quiet contemplation. The girls were especially animated, chasing each other around and onto the bed and then back off the bed, rinse, and repeat for hours. It occurred to me that in approximately 3 weeks, the three of us will have been together like this for an entire year. And in all that time, across all those Seasons, only two things have changed: they don't go to the bathroom in the house anymore, and they've each gained over 90 lbs. Yeah... Beatrice has a few scars, I have a few scars, the floor and a couple of walls and a slipper or two have a few scars, but no greater love can be found than the love that has flourished between the three of us and the joy we each bring to the others because we are together.

Observation of the day:

Those days you spend with the people you love and do nothing are quite often the best of the days you spend together.

Friday, 02/07/2025:

Sunrise was at 6:51 a.m., under mostly cloudy skies, there was a slight breeze, and the temperature was 25°. The sunset will occur at 5:07.

If I were to describe this day with one word, it would be accurate to suggest that it was a whirlwind. Me and Alice woke up to a 25° pre-sunrise morning, warm enough by far to stay on the porch for our coffee session and enjoy the warmer temperatures and Cemetery-quiet roads and highways. She had decided she was tired of waking up at 5:30, wanted a change of pace, and woke me up at 4:15. It's not the sort of thing you can easily refuse when you are woken up with an ear bath and an eye bath and two ginormous front paws working their way on to your chest insisting that you get up and start your day. As true as it is that I'm the one with opposable thumbs, the magnitude of her presence (and over-the-moon enthusiasm for life) ] makes her impossible to ignore. A couple of hours after Emma arrived, Katie (oldest granddaughter) arrived and took me to breakfast. We had a wonderful visit and recharged our "I haven't seen you in forever" batteries to overflowing. I came home, took the girls out, and made it to bed just in time for our regularly scheduled nap. Right after we woke up, Jillian (youngest granddaughter) called to tell me she was on her way to my house as she was getting out of school. We likewise had a wonderful visit... I see Katie less frequently than Jillian, but it's still never enough for any of us, and each of us is better for the time we do get to enjoy with each other. I accomplished none of what I had planned at 4:15 to do over the course of the day, but quality time with my granddaughters? I wouldn't have it any other way.

Observation of the day:

The best-laid plans are worth failing to accomplish if you're in the right company.

Saturday, 02/08/2025:

Sunrise was at 6:50 a.m., under partly cloudy skies, the air was still, and the temperature was 32°. The sunset will occur at 5:08.

Another Saturday, another long list of chores needing to be attended to; during the week, it's damaged control and Shetland pony entertainment, and weekends are committed to putting the place back together in time for the girls to do it all over again on Monday. For me and Alice, the routine is the same 7 days a week- she wakes me up when she's ready for me to be up, we have coffee on the porch (temperatures permitting), and we discuss plans for the day ahead. We nap every afternoon, eat dinner together every evening, and sit together on the porch before bedtime, discussing the day's accomplishments and what things we might tackle the following day. I told her that the week ahead was going to be amazing for her, pointing out that the snowflakes we were enjoying at that moment were just the beginning of what promised to be upwards of 8 inches of snow by the end of Sunday. I promised her, as well, that much of the upcoming week was going to bring us more and more as the days progressed that her and Emma were going to be getting a great deal more Bruce time out on the veranda and that she better rest up because Mother Nature was about to take us on a wild ride.

Observation of the day:

You know Winter is winning you over when you're busting at the seams with excitement over the mess she's about to make in your daily routine, and you can't wait for it to come.

Weekly PostScript:

Punxsutawney Phil made his annual appearance this week in Pennsylvania and told us there would be six more weeks of Winter. This is an amazing annual affair that has been going on since 1887, and despite efforts by the animal rights crowd to bring it to an end, it is an enduring tradition that brings with it an opportunity to gather together on Winter's terms (on her home turf) and celebrate. From a calendar perspective, regardless of whether Phil sees his shadow or not, there will always be six weeks of winter left after he's made his appearance. The good news for me and the girls this year is that because he saw his shadow, there is a better-than-even chance of colder and more snowy weather ahead. I ain't going to lie... When I first decided to undertake this Winter Journal, I was on the fence about whether you can ever really learn to love the winter season. We are only halfway through the season, and I have fallen for her hook, line, and sinker. I never expected that. The secret? Comply with her dress code, and the two of you will get along swimmingly.