Friday, February 7, 2025, 26*
Was that the wind or the furnace? At 2 o’clock, from the sofa Ruger looked at me asking if he should get up too. “Stay.” I switched on the outside light. Looking was not enough, I stepped outside, deck slushy, slick. Handrail, a satin finish of ice.
If I had grabbed my camera before my coat last night, I could’ve taken pictures of snow-laden trees by truck light; instead, I stood mesmerized watching Chris plow, lulled by the back-and-forth motion. Pretty soon towering snow piles will prevent me from parking where I do now. Chris tried to nap before heading out for hours into the night, his phone kept ringing. “Are you going to plow?” I thought of him often as I was not sleeping. I thought of the others who work nights. I thought too of a stormy night traveling 20 mph, sliding into oncoming traffic back into my lane down an embankment running over a sapling the Jeep stopping inches from a tree that would’ve stopped and damaged the car permanently.
The three now sleeping had to wait for the sprinkling of green crystals from my kitchen jar before they were allowed outside. Because temps this morning are warmer, Zsolt has entered his favorite place under my desk, Ruger sleeps by my chair. Zayne, I’m not sure where he is, probably on his bed. When I stop typing, he’s magically at my side.
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord,
“plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans
to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29: 11
Photo: LJ Austin
