Whether the weather be fine, whether the weather be not, whether the weather be cold, or the weather be hot, we’ll weather the weather, whatever the weather, whether we like it or not – Farmer’s Almanac
Born and raised in the South, you’d think you’d be used to the erratic weather. For weeks in December, we languished with temperatures in the 70’s and 80’s. It’s a little hard to Christmas shop and enjoy decorating your Christmas tree at home wearing Bermuda shorts and flip flops with the air conditioner running. On the way to the greenhouse and the goldfish pond I noticed the forsythia and the loropetalum were blooming. Poor things, nothing could stop them and they surely couldn’t last through the inevitable cold to come. Many plants have beautiful names, they roll over your tongue in a lovely sort of way-forsythia and loropetalum. I thought if I ever adopted more kittens, I would name them forsythia and loropetalum. However, our kittens would come with their birth names William and Harry; we made a slight adjustment as William turned out to be Wilhelmina.
By late December WCBI described the weather as “Muggy weather continues tonight with severe storms possible Saturday.” On Saturday we spent portions of the night listening to news reports, preparing our safe area with pillows, blankets, and wearing bicycle helmets. We text alerts to friends who might not be watching the weather reports. The Christmas tree and outside lights were still up and lit while we listened for sounds of tornados.
By the first few days of January temperatures dropped into the 20s and heavy rain poured. By nightfall on the second day a light dusting of snow covered the roof and decking. The leafless stems of the crepe myrtle had tiny icicles as did portions of the porch roof. The ground was warmed from the previous days so there was no snow or ice to be found in the yard or on the roads. A little giddiness lingered in the air at the presence of snow but that would soon change as well.
By midweek the sun came out and the air warmed. At least it felt warm. When temperatures are in the 80’s it feels chilly at 60 degrees. Once you are used to 60 degrees then it feels warm and 30 degrees is cold, 30 degrees is bearable and 15 degrees is frigid, and so on. The human body is a miraculous, adaptable organism.
During this whole time of weather fluctuations, I was in and out trying to keep the birdfeeders full. There were sightings of robins, small birds like the tufted titmouse, eastern phoebe, a mockingbird or two, and a downy woodpecker. I was interested in why several of the feeders were empty and knocked askew. It was unlikely the birds were feeding during nighttime hours. And so it was, after the rains there under the feeders were the tale tell signs of deer visitations. I can’t for the life of me figure out how tasty a tiny birdseed would be to a sizable deer.
Shannon Bardwell is a writer living quietly in the Prairie. Email reaches her at [email protected].
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