THE ENEMY MET

The temperature earlier was 19˚F when I jockeyed the trash barrel up hill to the roadside. That's -7.2˚ for those of you who think in Celsius terms. Cold either way…though not as cold as it's been recently. Wednesday's reading at about the same time in the morning was 11˚F (-11.6˚C) and yesterday's 15˚F (-9.4˚C). So I guess you could say we're on a warming trend.

I'm not complaining. The sky was clear, and the air still, lacking even a hint of breeze. I dunno about you, but I'll take cold, dry and windless to damp, blowing and barely freezing every time. It's the latter which invariably chills me to the bone; pure cold—at least down to thirty degrees below where things stand now—is, to me, not at all uncomfortable. But then, I like winter—and what fun would winter be without cold and snow?

Now, to business—which starts with a confession: this ought to be my fourth post of the new year. That was my intention when 2013 began…post something—if only a photo and brief caption, or a diary-like entry—every day. It wasn't a resolution, mind you. I know myself too well—especially my track record at keeping resolutions—to have gone quite that far in setting such goals and making promises, even if I never told a single other soul. 

No, I figured I'd mess up sooner or later due to work, travel, health, technical difficulties, inertia, or recidivistic laziness. I just didn't expect to mess up the second day out of the gate…and follow that up with a blank on the third.

View from my deskside window

My excuse for Wednesday is that I spent the entire day at my desk working on columns—from 8:30 a.m. until a few minutes after midnight, with a half-hour break for lunch at 2:30 p.m., an hour off to have supper with Myladylove once she got in around 7:00 p.m., and various briefer interruptions throughout the day and evening to answer comments from Tuesday's post, take a phone call or two, and stare ruminatively—and/or bewilderedly—out the window.

And yesterday? Well, Myladyove had the day off, so we finished up multiple post-holiday chores around the house, rearranged the great room, installed the final piece of interior trim on the entryway, and pretty much stayed at our task list from the time we got up until time to go to bed. Meals were either warmed leftovers or, in the case of supper, slices of cheese, apples, and salami. I checked my e-mail and answered one comment just after 11:00 p.m. last night—which was the only time I fired up the computer.

I'd like to think this abysmal start isn't indicative of things to come. Surely I can do at least somewhat better! Though I'm also aware of the depressingly insightful wisdom of that observation from Pogo: We have met the enemy, and he is us.

Time, I guess, will tell.