Day 4

I can honestly say that I am already sick of winter. We’ve already had a season’s worth of snow, and considerably lower temperatures than are typical for December. With January normally being our coldest month, I am definitely not looking forward to the next few weeks.

That being said, spring is only 74 days away! 

Day 2

Tuesday, January 02, 2018  

Another nice winter day; and the sun is trying to peek through. I love sunny winter days, and even made it out onto the porch for a short time to enjoy the fresh, clean air.  It seems warmer than the 12 degrees on the thermometer. Maybe it’s just that it’s been so cold lately that 12 degrees feels like a heat wave!

The deer were active last night; their tracks scatter everywhere around the yard, and there are signs they bedded down beneath the trees. Mouse trails wander across the top of the snow, and disappear beneath the clumps of yucca. The magpies are quiet today.

Signs of Significance: 77 days until Spring!

New Beginnings

Monday, January 1, 2018 

Hello 2018! 

What an amazing beginning to a new year.

I awoke at 2:30 in the morning and could not go back to sleep to save my life. So I got up, opened the back door and greeted the new year.  And what a view!  The full moon lit everything up so brightly, it was almost like daylight. This is the “Super Moon” - the “Wolf Moon” as some tribes called it. So named because this was the time of year wolves could be heard howling with hunger. 

The moonlight splashed over everything. I doubt even a mouse could move without being seen. The snow was unbroken and looked like marshmallow creme in the pasture. The air was cold, crisp and refreshing. To even take a breath filled my lungs with the a feeling of cleansing. The air was completely still; silent in the new year morning. Not even the owls were calling.

I stood there for what seemed like forever, but was probably one a few minutes. I was cold but didn’t want to close the door. To be witness to what Mother Nature provided, and to feel such a sense of freshness and renewal was almost overwhelming. I wish I would have thought to try and get a photo.

Here’s to a new year full of promise, adventure and possibilities - it’s going to be a good one!

 

Signs of Significance:

  Today there was ten more minutes of daylight that there was on the WinterSolstice!

   78 days until Spring!