Winter hat Begonnen¹

OAFS Photo

Our first measurable snowfall here in Little Rhody occurred Sunday morning, the 14th of December. Now I know that the first day of "official" winter is Sunday the 21st of December, which means that at some point in that day the sun will be perceived to be directly over the Tropic of Capricorn, winter really starts earlier, meteorologically-speaking.

When the cold starts moving in, and staying, that's winter. It's been down in the low-20s and even the low teens over the past week or so. So it felt like winter, just didn't look like winter here in the northeastern United States. Now it looks like it and feels like it. Which, as I get older, gets wearisome. Especially when you have to heat the house and pay for that luxury. Which up here is actually a necessity.

OAFS Photo

Now I know it isn't a lot of snow and I like that. It makes things prettier than being all brown, and it doesn't impede driving and it isn't much to shovel. As Chez Sarge faces south, and the driveway slopes to the south, clearing the driveway, even when it's bitter cold out, isn't really necessary if the sun is out. Anything less than three inches will pretty much melt on its own. We (I) still have to clean the automotive conveyances off, but that doesn't require any lifting.

This isn't the first snow I've seen this year. If you remember my post from a week ago (here), we saw snow the day we left Maryland, after our Thanksgiving trip to see the lads, Roberto and Finnegan, and their sister (for whom I have yet to pick a nom du blog). It wasn't as much and it wasn't as cold, though lately Maryland has been matching Little Rhody degree for degree as regards coldness. Something I hadn't anticipated but am getting used to.

In fact over the last couple of years, they've seen more snow (and deeper to boot) than I have up here in Little Rhody. That big old ocean just out there from Chez Sarge really keeps the temperatures moderated as compared to inland. While they're within a stone's throw of Chesapeake Bay, less than ten miles, they're nearly a hundred miles from the Atlantic Ocean. If you look at a map you'll see that Chesapeake Bay is much bigger than Narragansett Bay.

Speaking of which, we're less than a mile from Narragansett Bay and we're less than 15 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. So we definitely have a maritime climate in these parts whereas in Maryland The Nuke and her tribe are further inland.

So winter, as I mentioned above, doesn't officially start until the 21st this year. But by my reckoning, winter begins at the end of November, beginning of December. Sarge-officially, I consider December, January, and February to be winter. Fall is September, October, and November, spring is March, April, and May, and summer is June, July, and August.

While May can feel like summer, as can September, I consider those transitional months containing elements of the two seasons either side of them. Same goes for March, while I consider that to be in spring, it is also a transitional month from winter to spring.

Where I grew up, Vermont, we saw elements of winter (i.e. snow) well into April. Saw the same sort of weather in Colorado as well. I once drove from San Antonio (TX) to Fort Collins (CO) starting the 1st of April, which was a bright sunny warm day in Texas, right through into the 2nd of April, where it was snowing like crazy all the way from New Mexico to Canada. I was lucky enough to follow a snow plow over the Raton Pass!

As an aside, a very dear friend of mine was born on the day I went over the Raton Pass. She asked me how I could possibly remember what I was doing as she was being born, I just looked at her and said, "Driving from southern Texas to northern Colorado in a snowstorm isn't something you forget!" (And yes, I have some young friends, besides which, she was the best boss I ever had.)

So enough about the weather, as Not Your Uncle Skip says, "when you've got nothing to really post about, there's always the weather."

Some of you are no doubt wondering when the next installment in my World War One tale is going to come out. I wish I knew. Ever since the Muse and I shared an Italian coffee Friday last, she's been missing in action. Probably on a bender again, she's been working hard and keeps complaining, "I thought we were retired!" Which we are, but ...

It's the holiday season, Christmas for some and Hannukah for others, and truth be told, I just don't feel like writing much. The news is effing depressing, politicians who control society mostly (nearly all?) suck, and I'm just waiting to go see the grandkids at Christmas. Not going to see my breakfast buddies again until January and I'm in a holding pattern of sorts. I'm kinda the electronic device sitting in the charger until I'm needed again, the tanker flying the racetrack waiting until someone needs gas. My morale is shaky and I'm playing too many games on the computer. (How many is too many? YMMV)

I've given serious thought to quitting this blogging thing, I realize that it's become too much a part of who I am to do so, but I can ease off on the throttle a bit. Being a writer is not something you can just walk away from, it's addictive in many ways. You don't even have to be good at it to be addicted to it!

So that's where we're at.

By the way, juvat's Monday post, wasn't that strange as can be, but surprisingly it worked. At least for those who've been following the "juvat saga" as I call it. Vehicle mishaps, moving to another town after years of living in the same place, getting old, and yes, I'm paying attention. That sort of thing might happen for Your Humble Scribe. Not the vehicular mishap part, but the moving somewhere else? I just don't know. Once my mother is gone, that might happen, but our roots are awfully deep in these parts.

But the damned winters, they get to me at times. (Once the summer starts then I'll bitch about how hot it is!) But you never know, man proposes, God disposes. We shall see.

Personally I'd hate to leave New England, my roots are incredibly deep here. There are many folks here that I love deeply and I would hate to not see them again. My ancestors, at least those I knew personally and those in the generation before them, are buried here.

Geez, I'm such a geezer.

OAFS Photo

I snapped the photo above on Tuesday, firstly to show that the snow which fell Sunday, as little as it was, is still here, showing just how cold it's been. But if you look closely, you might notice the little tracks all over the backyard. (See the detailed photo below.)

OAFS Photo

Rabbits, we have quite a few. They drive The Missus Herself crazy as they love to eat all of her plants. A couple of years ago they wreaked havoc on the vegetable garden so two years ago we installed a chicken wire fence around it. So now we get to eat those vegetables rather than feeding the rabbits.

We have a lot of wildlife around here, rabbits, deer, turkeys, foxes, coyotes, and the neighborhood has a resident hawk. The hawk does more to keep the rabbit population under control than the coyotes, I know this as I found a partially eaten carcass in the backyard last summer while mowing the lawn. I knew it was a bird which had done the deed due to the way the carcass had been pecked at.

Nature, red in tooth and claw, if you pay attention, you can see it in town as well as in the country.

Anyhoo, that's enough for now. Expect days with nothing and days with just a little over the rest of the month.

I might even go "on sabbatical" in January. I'm still up in the air on that.

Stay tuned.

¹ Winter has begun. While the title didn't have to be in German, I like German, so there.