Winter Weary – Rise, Relay, Move.

A lazy Sunday afternoon, and I just woke from a nap. The girls are enjoying a rare nap themselves. After an overnight low of -5, today only managed to climb to a high of 1 degree. That’s unusually cold for where we live in southeast Missouri. Combined with the windy conditions we reached an overnight wind chill of around -20. It’s times like these that are especially hard on Jonell and Lydia. And when I wonder if moving to a warmer climate might not be best. But pretty much all of our family is near and I know we would never do it. Besides, even Texas is suffering from this arctic blast. Opening the front door for any reason sends an unpleasant cold throughout the house at a time when Jonell already struggles to maintain a bearable temperature inside. They are both exhausted. And as it is Sunday had nothing pressing, so I suggested they lay down and nap for a while. It’s a quarter past two and they both are enjoying some much-needed rest. It is short-lived though because Jonell still has to get up to feed the fire. If it gets too cold, my air mattress becomes a virtual block of ice. Even bundled up like a burrito as I am right now. Laying on a cold mattress would leave me uncomfortably cold. About a half hour after I began to write, Jonell emerged from the bedroom. She stirs the fire and tosses on another couple of pieces of wood. There is a slight chill in the air, but nothing compared to what is outside. My thoughts get taken to Lydia’s birds. She put some extra straw down for them but they don’t fare well in the bitter cold. This weather is predicted to last two more days. We get a short two-day reprieve where temps are expected to return to the normal thirties in the day and twenties at night. However, we are then going to plunge back to single digits for at least three days. Our smallest cat Kara jumps on the bed and Curls up between my feet. For a moment she looks at me, but I think she knows I couldn’t do anything if I wanted. Slowly she lowers her head and draws herself into a tiny little ball where she is fast asleep. It seems that all the animals have taken our lead and claimed a spot where they too are taking advantage of this quiet Sunday. What was I thinking? No sooner had I written the words quiet Sunday, then like talking about a baseball pitcher’s no hitter he has going, that it was no more. Can you say jinx? Suddenly there was barking and it earned the attention of every animal in our house. Even Kara popped her head up to see who dared disturb her slumber. Our new puppies which Jonell is training to keep watch over the property are barking to be let outside, disturbing Jonell from her rest once again. There is good reason for old sayings like No Rest For The Weary!