Into the Brrrrrrrrrr!

I would be SO happy if that snow and all that's yet to come would stay right where it is.  Keep those skiers happy and the rest of us able to enjoy walking on bare ground through our winter. 

This COULD be a Bigfoot sighting on South Center Valley Road----definitely not an abominable snowman, just yet anyway. 

It's not that we don't know that winter starts showing up in November.  I love the comments on Facebook targeting anyone who dares to proclaim that it sure is cold outside. 

"It's North Idaho . . . whaddya expect?" some mildly disgusted, omniscient viewer will type----as if a complaint about miserable weather has never left their lips. 

We, who've lived here all our lives, we who've known for 60-plus years that "it's North Idaho" and that it gets cold or wet or windy in November still have the right to complain. 

So there! 

After all, it's North Idaho . . . d'ya expect everyone to remain blissful and delighted and oh so happy when the first sensory stimulation they encounter upon waking and leaving a warm bed on a November morning is an ice-cold toilet seat?

Somehow my brain is not trained to shift into automatic "be nice" mode.  My brain always takes a little time to adjust to my buns suffering such a unexpected frigid shock.

So, I might growl a bit and then hurry the heck up with the first morning duty so I can get off that frosty seat and get somewhere warm.

Actually, we have had to adjust much quicker than usual to our first blast of winter air, which, in reality, has hit us much later this year than the usual first snow. 

Over the years, I've remembered those first flakes generally falling from the sky during the first week of November. 

So, Mother Nature has taken her time this year, most likely to teach us the lesson that she'll launch her winter fury when she's darned good and ready and that we'd better be darned good and ready when she does.

I'm guessing that not everyone was darned good and ready for this, even though we learned a week or so ago that it was gonna get cold. 

That extra summerlike extension to fall spoiled us into thinking that it might just go on for a long time.  

Sensing that we'd better get a move on Sunday as the cold wave was approaching, both Bill and I functioned as busy bees around the Lovestead----extension cords for water trough heaters, winterizing the new old motorhome, removing the brush hog from the tractor, storing stuff in the storage shed, making sure we knew where the snow shovels were stored last spring, etc. 

One chore we both neglected was packing some wood to the house.  After a couple of days of turning up every thermostat every time we entered an ice cold room in the house, we broke down last night and started the first fire in the stove.

Nothing like a toasty wood stove to take the edge of those ice crystals in the kitchen air. 

I've made the big transition to turtle necks this week and bought myself one of those blingy head bands from J.C. Penney's to wear around my ears while working outside. 

The dogs have an electric heater going in the garage, and the horses have spent their first nights in box stalls in the barn.  The barn should be much warmer this year since I stored all my hay inside rather than leaving it at the far shed for the mice to devour. 

And, so, we're slowly adjusting to this dramatic cold snap but reveling that we're on the very edge of the big storm wave and so far have not had to deal with shoveling or blowing snow.  

That will come soon enough, and we'll more than likely rev up our complaining when that happens. 

For now, with all the adjusting of the past few days, we're feeling somewhat prepared for winter and not minding these frigid days filled with lots of beautiful sunshine.

But that toilet seat was still awfully cold this morning.  Definitely a wake up call for a groggy brain. 

Happy Wednesday.  Stay warm.