Fighting Back

Well, here we are in southwestern Missouri where the high temperature today was a whopping 5 degrees. When I lived in central New York, getting lake effect winds and snow, I expected these temperatures, but in Missouri??

I'm pretty well convinced that humans are meant to hibernate.


We have toads and frogs in the back yard that dig themselves into the ground to spend the winter. We'll see them again in late spring, when they pop their little heads out of the soil under the deck.


Bears certainly know enough to grab a long nap in the cold weather.


This cute little field mouse has a snack nearby for when warm weather comes and he wakes up.


Squirrels and chipmunks should know enough to hibernate, though the crazy squirrels that built new nests in the tree just outside our bedroom window don't plan to sleep while we're filling the bird feeders with tasty seeds.

I'm hoping that the skunk that invaded our yard a few months ago is soundly asleep. Better yet, maybe he moved to another county to hibernate.

Since neither my dogs nor my husband will let me hibernate for the next couple months, I've decided to get serious about fighting this cold.


First I dug out my sheepskin mittens that I took to Russia with me. Who goes to Russia in the middle of winter, you ask? I did. I blame the movie Dr Zhivago. Remember that scene where Zhivago and Lara are riding in their sledge thru the snow covered countryside? Everything was clean and frosty and beautiful. It was all that, but it was cold!!

These mittens are super warm. Never mind that they're so thick that I can't bend my fingers with them on. Forget trying to grasp anything with one hand. At least my hands were warm.


I took a heavy knit hat with me to Russia, but it wasn't warm enough, so I went native, so to speak, and bought this blue fox hat. This thing is super warm.


Mama bear is modeling it for you. I tried to get Samba to wear it, but her head is shaped wrong for it. These hats are really comfortable and so warm that you need to remove it now and then to let your head get some fresh air. I love this hat, but don't get a lot of opportunities to wear it here. This is one of those times.


Another necessary piece of clothing in Russia was leg warmers. Mine were red and I pulled them up over my knees. My knees get super cold, even when it isn't below zero degrees. I don't know where my leg warmers went. I think I got rid of them when we moved here. Who would expect to need leg warmers in Missouri? Now I need to find some. Do you think Walmart knows what leg warmers are?


To round out the picture, boots. Mine were brown, but similar to these. I loved those boots. Now I have some tan suede boots, but they aren't as much fun as those boots were.

So with my long, hooded stadium jacket, sheepskin gloves, Russian fox fur hat, leg warmers and heavy boots over my jeans and heavy sweater over my flannel shirt, I'm ready to brave the back yard to scoop poop. Not quite as glamorous as world travel, but a necessity of life.