I’m not much for winter. It isn’t that I dislike winter, it is that I hate the darkness of the days in winter. Now, I suppose this would be different if I lived in a place like Colorado where it snowed a lot and the sun shone often in spite of the frigid temps. The combination of the snow and the sun would effectively ward off all gloominess associated with the dreary winter days that are oft experienced in certain parts of the Pacific Northwest.
I can handle winter up until New Year’s Day. Then I’m ready for Spring, and more better, summer! Every year, and especially this year, I party pretty hard through the holidays and winter doesn’t bother me much because I am distracted. January was easier this year due to The Beau; he distracted me quite a bit this last month. In spite of the distractions, the early nightfalls and scraping the car windows every morning before work (when I’m already late and don’t have a handsome, considerate significant other to help me out with that) really create some serious resentment when it comes to all things winter. Never mind that I love the warm winter evenings near the fire. That’s good only so long as there is firewood.
As I was driving my oldest home from her job the other evening we both noticed that behind the cloud cover and peeking through at points there was still light in the sky. This cheers my soul. This means, the worst of winter may be over for us and within two months spring will be here.
I love February for this reason. The cold, freezing biting frost begins to give way to the drizzly, cozy, coffee sipping days of February which magically turn into March leading us ultimately and inevitably to those wonderful days where I do not have to get up at the crack of dawn every morning (though I often do, just because I can) and can spend my days as I wish doing all the things I didn’t have the free time to do during the school year.
It also means quite a few months before the summer heat wave hits that I can save money by not using heat and not having to cool the house either. That rocks!
P.S. My heat bill usually hits $400 a month. By heating with wood and turning my heat way down during the day and only up when absolutely necessary, I was able to cut my gas bill in half. It sure helped all summer to scavenge that free wood off friends who needed help clearing their properties. And the little tip about turning the furnace down overnight even when we are here was golden!
P.S.S. The upside to winter is there is no yard work, well, not as much anyway.
The Wild Mind 