UHGG!

I awoke from a warm slumber to the sound of...nothing. No cars, no trucks, just quiet. I crawled out of my snug cocoon of piled quilts, threw on some comfortable sweats and peaked out the window. What did I see? Sleet. Fucking sleet. An inch and a half of sleet. Frozen droplet that fall from the sky to turn the roads into, what seems to be, a table covered in white ball bearings. Nice. I put on my coveralls, boots and a hat, grabbed my new snow shovel and went to battle. The accumulation was nicely crusted over and broke into loose piles of the slick shiny beads and slabs and chunks. Whew! Now that that is done, what to do? I'm sick of looking at these walls, watching that flickering idiot box, staring out the windows. My favorite flea market is closed on the weekends. It seems I lost my fascination with gunshops through the gaping hole in my pocket and there are no small shops that a guy can go to and just hang out. Maybe a trip to wander around Cabelas or Bass Pro Shops. I dunno, I just know that I'm NOT sitting around the damn house today. Sleet or no.

I did receive this in my email this morning. And it makes me proud to be a grandpa. My little Diamond.

Pitter Patter...

I'm sitting here enjoying a biscuit with honey and listening to  the pitter patter of sleet against the window for the first time this year. What will the future hold for this winter? Snow? Ice? Sleet? Bitter cold? The options are exciting to me! The day dawned with a hard, icy rain pounding on the roof. Heavy grey clouds obscuring the sun. Wind, whistling past the eves, stripping the last red, gold leaves from the trees. Winter signals it's approach.

What I found And What's Coming

I went to the grocery store Sunday after noon to get a couple things Cherry Pie neglected to buy. I passed the liquor department on my way to the sausage freezer and saw a familiar red tag hanging below the Wild Turkey. Right turn...NOW! Yep Wild Turkey 101 on sale for $19.99! Looking frantically calmly through my wallet I found a hidden twenty dollar bill. Yahoo! A bottle went into the cart and I got the rest of my shopping done uninterrupted. Back home, I was putting the stuff away and reached to put the liquor in the "liquor cabinet" and found, shock, shock, a partial bottle of the same liquor. Holy Crap I coulda had a drink or two and didn't know it! Now I just gotta figure out when to have a drink or two. A cleaning gig every night M-F and an all freaking day job at the pawn shop Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. So that leaves Saturday night and Sunday. Sunday is usually reserved for household chores, lawn care and vehicle care and firearms projects. Saturday night it is. And Maybe Sunday evening. Relax have a drink or two, watch a show, visit with Cherry.

Sitting here looking out the window and I see a red squirrel sitting on the fence, leaves falling from the trees and a leaden sky hinting at a future of cold dreary days, days that give a boost to my soul and spirit. Winter is my time of the year. Cold, windy, snowy, icy, dark, dim, bright, crisp fall and winter is my time. Sipping hot chocolate, while listening to the wind howl and hearing the tappa tappa tap of ice pelting the windows. The squeak that snow makes when you walk on it during a really cold spell. And the best of all, the silence that reigns during a heavy snow storm. No cars, no kids, no nothing except the whisper of falling snow brushing through the trees.  Later on the scraping, banging of the snowplows racking up over time, filling in every ones driveways. Cursing them, the snow the, season and then looking at a mountain of shoveled snow and feeling tired, worn out, aching yet satisfied. Inside for a warm shower and one of my special hot chocolates. My season is fast approaching.