Hard Water
All my trees and plants are bowed down paying homage to water. It started yesterday with a thunderstorm in 30-degree weather. If they rejoiced with that first good drink, they soon realized there was a price to pay. The water that normally soaked limbs and leaves was freezing. Mother Nature was like, so, you want water, well, here’s water, I’ll shroud you in it, encase you it, cover you with it. Not quite a flood, but similar I imagine.
Escape may be a long time coming. If we get above freezing today, there might be some relief, but it all depends on how long the temperature stays there, and what sort of wind chill we have. Because after today, it will be four days of Canadian weather for the Hill Country, never rising above freezing during the day and approaching a single digit low on Monday night, and that digit is 2. Texas birds might fall from the sky.
Later this morning I’m going to check all my outside faucets to ensure they’re still secure. I cover them as a matter of course each winter, but our winter has been mild so far, and something might have slipped. I’m also going to bolster the shelter for my outside cats, extra cardboard beneath and on top of the kennels should be good insulation to keep the warmth of the heat lamps inside. After that I’ll be in observer territory, waiting on this crushing grip of winter to release us and let us go, while being thankful for the shelter I have because it could always be worse.
John W. Wilson is the author of The Long Goodbye: A Caregiver’s Tale