A chilly, cloudy, misty morning reminds me of what I’d be doing if I was still in a house, not an apartment. Mother Natures always sent reminders on the chores to be done….
BRRR. THE COLD front arrived on schedule overnight.
Given it’s August it really was not cold, but chilly enough with breeze enough that I put on a light jacket to sit out with Buddha. I put the patio umbrella up to ward off a chill mist that was falling. After a week of hot and humid days, it felt almost like mid-Fall.
Which got me to thinking how much I relied on signals from Mother Nature for my planning back when I owned houses. In an apartment, weather does not mean nearly as much.
I thought that if this morning came when I still lived on a hillside in Vermont, I would be making a note to call “Snake” and order up about five cords of firewood for the two woodstoves. I met “Snake” while helping on a hot air balloon crew. He also was the town plow driver who did our road. Snake could run the big rig at full speed and come within six inches of your newspaper box within touching it. He’d always lift the plow a hair when he passed my driveway to avoid putting up a snow berm. He left it soft so I could blow it out when my mega-snow-thrower.
I’d also make a note to contact the chimney sweep. We heated with two woodstoves in winter and if you didn’t have the soot buildup cleaned out before each season, you’d risk a roading chimney fire, not a good thing. I also have the chimney checked for any cracks in the firewall, lest heat and sparks get through to dry wall.
And, of course, I’d make another note to get the snow-thrower in for a tune-up. Nothing worse than having one go out when a foot of snow was on the way.
Oh, snow tires. Time to go in the garage and check the tread, start thinking about having them put on. One car had all-wheel drive, one only front wheel but nevertheless, we’d put snow tires on them both.
A change in weather didn’t send such signals everywhere we lived. But, during a stretch out on the flat lands of Western Illinois, where winter storms started in Canada and blew unobstructed down through the Dakotas and into our territory, there was a check list brought on by a chill and gray morning.
In East Texas, Fall wasn’t much. But hurricane season brought out the list. Change the oil in the Generac whole-house generator. Get prepared to move patio furniture under cover on short notice. Start thinking about destinations if a big enough storm was warranted to take an unplanned vacation. We never did evacuate, but it was prudent to have a plan.
This morning brought all that to mind. But not much to do. I had planned to walk down to the YMCA for a workout, but the chill and dark made body feel lethargic. Instead, I walked down to our common area and picked up an “everything” bagel, dropped off by Country Bagel and Bakery across the street. Not on my healthy eating plan, but it was cold and gray, so….
Then I sat down to pen this piece, do a bit of research for writing I do for a local organization, read a book. I couldn’t resist the mini-hibernation response the morning triggered. It will pass, but now it is time to just succumb. Maybe, in a bit, crawl back into bed for a while and pretend a storm rages outside my window while I remain safe and warm.
Rich Heiland is a retired journalist and semi-retired consultant, trainer and public speaker. During his journalism career he was a reporter, editor, publisher, college instructor, part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team and a National Newspaper Association Columnist of the Year honoree. He also writes the intodementia.com blog about his family’s experience with dementia. He lives in West Chester, PA and can be reached at [email protected].
Good writing as usual.