Hello Winter

 Today it is cold. The warmest it was today was at midnight, 48 degrees. The temps have dropped to 13 or 14, with a wind chill of -2. 

When Anna and I went for a walk we noticed that the wind was blowing so strong that the pine needles were swept to the east. In addition, the air carried enough freezing precipitation that the needles were frozen, bent like shards of glass and fixed to the branches. 

We did not walk our normal route today, instead we walked on our property. We could handle the cold, but the wind was making it feel like our eye balls were freezing. The wind is blowing so hard, I think it is finding the crevices between the mortar on the house. The house feels "drafty." 

When the wind blows this strong it it reminds me of a story I heard from my friend Howard Gager. Howard grew up in Ithaca, MI. When Howard and his brothers were little, they often woke up to snow on the inside of the window pane. Howard wasn't alone. Many a kid, over millennia, has had the same experience. 

We often forget how a person's experience of the world has improved year after year. Maybe someday we'll have a house wrap that will eliminate the idea of a draft. 

Today we give thanks that the window sills are free of snow!