Winter, winter, winter

 

Winter continues...and continues and continues.  Come on, Big G, it's almost April!  I suppose I should make some snarky comment about Global Warming, but, blahhhh!  All those people who tout that should take a long walk off a short pier.

Well, at least it's fireplace weather.  Few things better than curling up in front of a cozy fire, listening to the wind moan and whistle around the eaves and roar in the cedars and pines, look out the window and see the snow swirling into drifts, check the thermometer on the porch and think, man, is it cold out there.  Glad I'm in here!  A cup of hot chocolate and something engaging to read...life is good.

What am I reading? Dygartsbush by Walter D. Edmonds.  It's a novella first published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1937.  It's about a man and wife pioneering in the Mohawk valley of New York in the years immediately after the revolution and how they come to re-establish their relationship and pick up their lives after she returns from  being kidnapped by the Indians and living with them for seven years. Captured in the early days of the rebellion, when the British paid $8 for the scalp of an American, she was lucky that a brave took a fancy to her and made her his squaw. After the British defeat, the Seneca signed a peace treaty with the Americans, one provision of which was the return of all white captives, and thus she came home.  Eight or nine decades ago, when the country still belonged to us, stories such as this one resonated with Americans -- real Americans they were then, not a mob of indifferent, ignorant, arrogant and incurious FOB foreigners who claim to be Americans but are not -- and novels like Drums Along the Mohawk and Arundel enjoyed a wide audience, and Edmonds is probably the best who ever wrote about the early days of our country.

What else do I do on these stormy winter days?  One thing is dance with the house apes, mine and sometimes a couple of the ranch hands'. One guy is a widower, his wife lost in a traffic accident, and one is divorced, such a common thing these days, he having partial custody of his child. They usually stay and watch, sometimes they'll try to dance, too, after some good-natured coaxing (they are a bit bashful), and I will show them some simple steps. The time spent is enjoyable for both the grown-ups and the kids, and we do have so much fun while I'm teaching them various dances.  We laugh a lot. Afterwards, we're all tired and can have a snack -- the kids like brownies and cup cakes with milk, the adults maybe a BLT or ham with chips -- and then the small fry take a nap while the adults chat.  I'll make the guys a hot toddy with a little extra dash of whiskey and they relax and tell me about their days. If something breaks or the cattle need their attention they will be out in this weather, hands and feet freezing, icy wind whipping into their faces and cutting right through their coats.  But they won't quit till the job's done.  So I'm happy to provide them a little bit of fun and relaxation when things are going well and they have some free time.

What do we dance to?  Songs like this, one of our favorites: