Tag Archives: winter

First Snow

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This morning was chilly.  It was a hard morning to get up.  The sky was gray and rain pattered against the windows, tossed by the north wind.  Leaves blew around the driveway or stuck to the side of the house.  It was dark when we needed to rise.  We all got up, however, and were eating our various breakfast items when we noticed it was snowing.

This was our first snow of the season.  We all had later schedules this morning so we had a family walk to the end of the driveway to meet the school bus.  The wind was strong and we were mostly dressed for the weather.  My wife likes to hang on to summer, so she wore a skirt and flip flops.  She did wear a knit hat with a hood, but she was a tad cold.

I carried an umbrella, which worked well on the way out.  The snow batted it as I held it over my shoulder.  On the way back to the house, however, the wind would have filled its bowl and sailed out of my hands if I held it the same way.  I carried it in front of me but gave up after a bit of semi-blind struggling and folded it up.

These first snows are some of the most beautiful.  They elate me with their gift of the change of seasons.  I always feel a sense of wonder and joy when the seasons change.  I anticipate all the things we have not done in months.  We will soon be carrying in wood and stoking the fire.  We will soon sled down our hill.  We will soon feel the contrast of warm home and cold outdoors.

They are also beautiful because the white snow covers the green grass and the remaining orange and red leaves.  The grass in the field stands tall with various browns and some lingering purple asters.  Once winter has settled in, the colors will be fewer and muted.  Gray will often predominate.  Today, however, the snow gave all the colors of fall new highlights.

The walk out to meet the school bus always offers a moment of reflection.  Today, as on so many other mornings, I had the chance to look around me.  I was with people I love, and realized, yet again, how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful place.  A beautiful day in a beautiful place with beautiful people.  Not a bad way to start the day.

Bats in the House

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My wife found a bat in the basement today.  It was pretty dead.  Dessicated, you might say.  My guess is that it hibernated over the winter, didn’t make it out, then fell from the floor joists where it had taken its nap.  Bummer.

This summer we had bats in the house a couple of times.  Once, I was putting my daughter to bed when a bat landed on the windowsill.  Luckily I was able to quickly wrap it in a blanket and take it outside before it freaked her out too much.  She was curious about it more than she was scared.  Phew.

The second time a bat was in our room as we went up to bed.  That one took a little longer to corner.  I finally got it into the bathroom but it was doing laps around my head.  Eventually it landed in the shower and I scooped it up in a blanket again.  Maybe it was the same bat.

Stupid bat.

I am hoping we don’t have any bats setting up shop in the basement for the winter right now.  How the heck would we find them?  Is there a bat expert we can contact who would know how to find bats in the basement?  A basement hibernating bat expert?

Our basement would be a great place for a bat to spend the winter.  It is dark and warm and gets hardly any visitors.  And there are plenty of cozy nooks in which to curl up and sleep.  Plus, the owners of the house wouldn’t be able to find a bat down there if they tried.

Who’s stupid now?