As The Theme from "Jaws" Plays...

Dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum....

Another snowstorm is approaching. It should be here tonight. Lots of things to do today. Need to get the leftover limbs cleaned up and stacked, out of the way. Need to finsh the laundry. Need to get the turkey cleaned and ready to roast. Need to get things going. Need to have everything battened down, dry and ready. Bake some banana bread today? Hmmm. Blueberry pancakes for breakfast? Hmm. Let me think. Have to clean out the woodstove today, for the fire tonight and tomorrow. Get those ashes and the two kitchen compost bins dumped into the compost pile.

I thought I heard a racccoon thump onto the verandah last night. "THUMP" and then that chittering sound of a pissed off coon. Couldn't see anything, though. There is still a drift next to the verandah; about 5 feet long and three feet high, swirled on top. I just KNOW they want underneath, in that warm safe place. I check the latticework all of the time, looking for a break. Get in, sneak down next to the dryer vent, and I could have skunks or coons under there. Not a pleasant thought. Like rats - once they get in it is all but impossible to get them out. So I check, and re-check.

Naturally suspicious, me.

Watching the world go by outside my world, via computer. Will Blondie go to ND with the Red Cross? Will Debbie get her new place? Will Rebecca's new job help her at all? The passions play out, and I am the voyeur, watching them all, listening. But none of it affects me. Here there are too many things to do.

Chris is talking about coming out in July or August. I don't believe him. I'm sure he WANTS to but he could never seem to make it 300 miles, much less 1700. Rob and I email back and forth. If TSHTF, he thinks he and his family could make it here. I'm not betting. I invited him - like most - knowing that most will stay as long as they can where they are, thinking and telling each other it will never get that bad - until it is too late. It is useless to tell people anything about themselves. They don't want to hear it, no matter how much they demand to. I proved that once again two weeks ago. Yammer yammer yammer help me help me I am so unhappy tell me the TRUTH - then, of course, dead silence. No one wants the truth. They want THEIR truth. They want what it is convenient for them to believe; what it doesn't hurt them to believe, what makes them feel all better about themselves. Shrug. Not much to do there. Most people will wrap themselves in a familiar pain rather than reach for an unfamiliar and frightening possibility of pleasure.

Tammy wants to bring her new bf Jim to meet us. Still on a wait-and-see with that one, too. I really don't want to get too excited - too many men follow her around because she is smart, funny and beautiful, thinking only what they can get out of her - trying to increase their reputation by being seen with her. Not a whole lot of trust here. She can pick whomever she wants, but time will tell if I like them or not. And I don't want to seem too excited or happy or anxious - because if she has to dump him I don't want my opinion to matter.

The sun is up and the plants are reaching for it as it grazes across the table. Stretch, little babies. The green beans are already six inches high, everything else is expanding. The peas already have 5-10 real leaves apiece! Soon I'll be transplanting the bigger ones into cups. A month to go to put them in the ground and I am soooo impatient.

The chickens I ordered won't be here til May 8 or 9. The incubator is set up and ready to go, though. I could have snatched up some at the feed store the other day; mixed breeds and who cares? I care. Begin as you mean to go on. I may be looking at other options, but I know what I want and why. Blowing money on a spur of the moment purchase was never my style.

Ah, the chickadees are finally up. They discovered my stash of sunflower seeds in the garage; sneaky little devils. I don't mind. Plenty to go around. And the ones in the bag are too hard for them to get into. They flock around the corn after the turkeys leave. Little tiny cheerful survivalists. They are flitting around the pond in front, getting their little sips of morning water. When I cleaned it out last weekend they sat in the lilac bushes and swore at me.

As the sun comes up golden in the east, the grey and brooding western sky seems to just be grumblingly stirring. Today it will be warm - over 50. And clear enough to stack the new wood to weather over for next winter. Stretch and face the new day, knowing that the storms tonight will being in changes... and preparing for them.