February 3, 2021 – early Wednesday (Groundhog Day, Covid raging: 447,000 US dead)
How much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
I should be in bed. It’s nearly 1am and my brain is on over-drive … and singing rodent ditties … not conducive to sleeping or even drifting off to dreamland. So, maybe this will help.
I was in bed – trying my best to summon Mr. Sandman and then the song started in my head (the one sung by The Chordettes … Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream…) … that was replaced by the woodchuck ditty and well, that was the last straw. So, I got up and started researching woodchucks. And, according to some wildlife guy – if a woodchuck could chuck wood – it would be roughly 700 lbs. Who knew?
I’m up and very chilly because my thermostat is set to go down to 63 at 11pm … so, the house has had a few hours to cool down. It reminds me of our trip to Copenhagen, the Christmas of 2007.
Sam and I met up with Ted. We were coming from the States … he, from Turkey where he was working. We met in Copenhagen because, well … Turkey isn’t exactly a Christmas hot spot. We had a wonderful trip … I remember vividly those canals – lit by torch light – sparkling like bronze ribbons of glitter. My! They were gorgeous! And boy, was it COLD! As a last minute thought I threw in silk long-johns and my furry boots. I’m pretty sure I wore them all the time. Thank goodness for last minute decisions; I surely would have frozen to death!
While there – we saw such great museums and walked everywhere. One day we visited a hotel bar that had a 20 foot ceiling (or higher) … it was small and intimate with dark paneled walls, booths with candles and a grand piano in the middle of the room with a pine tree, hanging upside down from the ceiling, holding 1000 glass ornaments. It was breathtaking. We ordered hot toddies or laced coffees as we were so cold! We were going to go to an ice bar (one of those places made completely of ice) … but decided that we were already practically frozen solid and needed the comfort and warmth of our hotel room, instead. If you have a chance to go – go at Christmas time. It’s enchanting.
Tonight I was reading about Leatherback turtles in Trinidad. I’m a turtle lover from way back and it was astounding to me to learn that one in a thousand of those baby turtles ever survive. Damn! Horrible stats! I had no idea. We had box turtles when I was a kid. We’d be on vacation and my dad would pull over the Ford Falcon station wagon (no seat belts) and go run back for a turtle he saw on the road. We acquired Penny and Hardy that way. We had 5 of them … and they had full run (so to speak) of the house. They must have loved our two-tone green shag carpeting! We’d gather them in the bathtub to eat worms or raw hamburger. They loved berries, lettuce and cantaloupe the most. Their digestive systems were pretty fast and we’d leave them in the tub to “do their thing” and lift them out and clean them and the tub the next morning. We had shallow bowls of water that they drank from … and they’d line up at the base of the fridge – where the warm air blew out – for warmth, any time of year. When I was a kid, I hate to admit this – I made a “turtle face”. I can still do it. (I’m hoping I don’t have any permanent wrinkling from those days). I think it drove my sister crazy.
It was 70 degrees in Denver today … my daughter was at the zoo watching lions eat “rabbit popsicles” (so described to her by the zookeeper). Ugh. I saw the video. Let’s just say I would have loved being in the zoo, in early Feb, in 70 degree weather – but I’m not one for animals eating each other. I can’t even watch the Nat Geo channel.
It was 70 degrees there and it was 44 here … rainy, gray and just so wet. Saturation has set in. Actually, it set in a while ago … the white picket fence that I repainted in 2019 and power washed 4 months ago is now light green. My gutters are sprouting trees and my roof is going to look like a thatched cottage by Spring. The limbs on every tree are fuzzed over with moss and everything growing is a varying shade of green … spring, emerald, fern or parakeet … lime, basil, pear or chartreuse …
I am challenging myself to a 28 day walkabout … and am glad I didn’t choose March, which has 3 more days in it than this month. At least now, I’m glad. I’m hoping this becomes a habit once I turn my calendar page to the third month. We’ll see. Anyway, it’s about 4500 steps/2 miles and since I’m a slow-go and always looking out for deer and whatnot it takes me a good 40 minutes. Today I started off from home and walked west – along the cliff road towards the road that leads into town. I stopped to take a picture of one of the old, gnarled apple trees along the way – limbs bare and mossy … branches loaded with lichen. (I’m lichen it!) I get to the end of the road and turn back/taking in a small cul de sac before coming back out to the cliff road and past my street and continue on down to the where the cliff road dead ends. It used to go through but Mom Nature swept a good chunk of the hillside away and took the road with it. By the time I got to the end of the cliff walk and turned around back on my way home, the sky was turning from the blue-gray of the day to a light lilac … further along it turned periwinkle … and I watched the edges get darker until it was nearly cobalt by the time I walked back through my gate. I’ve been watching the skies more lately – they fill me with joy and awe. Mom Nature sure is marvelous.
And that brings me to NC/SC/GA … via thinking of Mom Nature … and ultimately climate change. It’s still snowing in the midwest (two feet and counting) and a nor’easter has brought similar amounts to areas along the east coast/mid Atlantic states. I wouldn’t mind a snow-globe snowfall … one of those glitter snows that dust things and sparkle like crazy and melt once the sun comes out. We haven’t had snow in two years here … not that I want any … but it sounds nice – as long as I don’t have to go anywhere in it. But only that soft, pretty, sparkly sugar snow. The rest everyone else can keep and deal with. I grew up in the Chicago area/lived in Denver for 34 years and endured some three to four foot snowfalls. No thanks. Been there, done that.
But, I think of NC/SC/GA … and all this extreme weather also means HOT summers. I want more warmth than what is usually up my way (I do not consider 70 degrees or even 75 degrees summer temps!) … but I certainly do not want 90 degrees from May through October. So, I’m going to have to continue my research taking climate also into consideration and have that as one of my priorities when making my decision about where to move. Still hoping that happens before the end of this year. Again – we shall see!
I am getting dogs this week … a few daytimers and good ol’ Sadie – my semi-resident golden who will be with me for a couple of months. The more dogs the merrier and my life feels better – as does my heart – with more furry bodies to take care of. Bea is getting to be an old hat with this doggy daycare stuff!
And in saying that idiom … it makes me, again, so aware at how uneducated Americans – in general/on a whole – are when it comes to language. Most of us speak one language (and some have not exactly mastered the one!) … and I think how difficult it would be to learn English. We have idioms coming out of our ears! I’m not pulling your leg or pulling the wool over your eyes with saying this! And, the spelling inconsistencies! Damn/dam … it would/wood be/bee so/sew hard … which/witch one/won to choose/chews?
In any case … I am thinking my Advil PM is kicking in and I need to get to bed before I snuggle on the carpet in the hallway on my way to my room! I started my day cursing the world’s cutest rodent this morning for predicting six more weeks of winter. I guess I can’t be too upset that he’s a lousy weather predictor … after all, he’s a ground hog! I watched his exploits from this morning … and then tonight I watched Groundhog Day. It felt only fitting. I needed a good laugh … and got several.
I am off to bed. I’ll snuggle with Bea while thinking of sea turtles and a fat weather forecasting woodchuck. How much sleep could a tired gal get if a tired gal could get sleep?