I think someone ticked off Mother Nature. Admittedly, the ambiance of the freshly fallen snow on Christmas Day was nice, but now the non-stop snow has worn out its welcome. Late into Wednesday evening and all day today, even the radio playing low in the background did not drown out the incessant whirring and whining of overworked snow blowers, nor the intermittent rhythmic thunk of snow shovels hitting bare pavement. The collective snow blower noises just droned on, only occasionally missing a beat when the motor would choke or stop as if to catch its breath, or simply rebel at the handler for misuse or abuse. I heard no City plow coming down the street to kick back half the snow onto the end of the driveway … but give it time. The weather has got me in true Winter mode, feeling lethargic and wanting to just sleep as much as I can. With no early a.m. agenda now that walking is done, and no errands to run for the short term, I keep setting the alarm clock to go off later and later. Today, the shrill sound of the alarm awakened me from a dead sleep. I am still catching up on my ZZZZZZs after neighborhood revelers were shooting off firecrackers to welcome 2014 until 1:00 a.m. on New Year’s Day. I grudgingly reached my arm out from beneath the toasty covers to quickly silence that annoying buzz then snuggled down further under the blanket for a few minutes, all curled up and feeling as though I should be purring since I was as content as a cat. Finally, I reluctantly left the confines of my warm bed and plodded out to the kitchen to make coffee and a big bowl of oatmeal, both designed to warm the innards and the rest of me. I nudged the heat up a bit while I waited on breakfast, because even though I was still clad in my polar fleece snowflake jammies, I was feeling mighty chilly. I listened to the news and weather forecast, the latter mostly just out of habit, since my only destination today was a quick trip outside. The wind chill advisory for today and tomorrow sounded ominous and I decided to do a quick load of washing to warm up the pipes. The basement was cold enough to hang meat since I close the cellar way door 24/7 to keep it warm in the kitchen for Buddy and me. I trudged back upstairs and settled into the kitchen chair to nurse a second cup of coffee and try to warm up, then resorted to grabbing the afghan which is always draped over the rocking chair, to just huddle under. Ahh … there is nothing like the warm wool of a handmade afghan just wrapped around you, conforming to your body and taking the chill off on a cold day. I would have liked to stay in this position, draped by the warm cover-up and hands wrapped around the coffee cup, just sitting contemplating life, but reality set in when the kitchen clock chimed at the top of the hour and I knew my load of wash was done. As I walked downstairs, I told myself the cold basement will not lure me to go and sit on the exercise bike for the first day of my bike-riding regimen next Monday, especially since it is projected to be the coldest day in twenty years. Maybe I’ll just wait ‘til Tuesday… or Wednesday … well, really what’s the hurry? From the looks of it, a long Winter is stretched out before us, of that we can be sure.