By JB Lester
Another snow storm approaches and children eye a day off school. The milky sky hides the diffused sunshine which is helpless in warming this winter day. February in St. Louis can bring us blizzards or early bulbs a blooming. A real climatological mixed bag of tricks. March is also a mixed bag with possible heavy snow. The kind you can make snowballs and snowmen out of. This snow in February is usually powder flakes due to frigid temperatures. Easy to shovel but hard to navigate when the wind blows the drifts around. For my money, winter is overrated. I am a summer guy. I like the beauty of winter and snow in photos and paintings, but not beneath my spinning tires and my heavy snow boots. I look forward to the crocus peeking through the sun-warmed soil. Spring comes in late March and I am counting the days. Our family of feral cats look forward to Spring as well. Their fur has tripled in thickness as the temps hit the teens. They do have an outdoor cat house that is filled with straw and covered in plastic and insulated with Styrofoam. We keep them well fed and give them warm water that quickly freezes if they don’t slurp it down quickly. They adapt and know that we are here for them.
I take my vitamin D in the winter to keep my spirits up. This helps me avoid S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder). I haven’t had it in years, but it can be quite horrible for many people. You need sunlight. I never tried light therapy, but some say it works for S.A.D. as well. It is certainly crock pot weather and Niki recently made a “stick-to-your-ribs” meat and potatoes meal. It lasted us three days. I think my ribs are well stuck now.
Winter is also a time of viruses. I keep trying to avoid the little micro-organisms so easily shared by my grandchildren, who love their Grampy and want to slime me with love. My doctor says I should have a great immune system (like that of a teacher) after being around the kids so much. Tell that to my sinuses and bronchi. This winter I have been a phlegm machine. Spring can’t get here fast enough. I will start looking out the window for the first Robin hopping around looking for a nice fat worm in the thawed dirt. It is time to say goodbye to the sun so low in the sky and the moon so cold in the night. I am in need of a rebirth, a renaissance, renewal and reawakening. I need to sprout and sing the song of Spring and let Old Man Winter take to slumbering.