Saturday, January 14, 2006, 19:07
"March" In January
It is only the middle of January, but I am beginning to wonder if I will be outside doing lawn work soon (raking and cleaning up twigs and stones).
That's because even though it is only the middle of January, it looks and feels like the end of March around here.
For one thing, the big snowbank at the end of the driveway by the back door is only half its original size. I would not have thought the snow could have melted so much in January, but it has. Sure, most years we will get a January thaw, but often, the warm temperatures last for only a day or two, not long enough for much thawing to take place.
Another thing that makes it seem like March is that the driveway is icy, too. The end of the driveway, where the sun does not hit because of trees on both sides, is especially icy.
And then there are the patches of bare lawn all over the place.
This is definitely weird that it has been so warm and so much of the snow has melted and that ice has formed everywhere -- and it is only January. The weather makes it feel like March, but I know we still have two full months to go before it actually is March.
Will it turn to winter again with below zero temperatures and more snow along the way?
Will it continue to feel like March from now until March?
Will it gradually grow warmer so that it feels like April when we finally get to March, which means we might have a very hot, dry summer ahead with more drought conditions?
We shall see.
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Friday, January 13, 2006, 21:35
An Unexpected Letter
I received a very unexpected letter Thursday afternoon. From a staff sergeant. In the United States Air Force. In Afghanistan. . .
In his letter, Tony Mosher told me that he had found a copy of my book Give Me a Home Where the Dairy Cows Roam in his unit's library at Bagram Airfield. He started reading the book, got through three lines, and knew that he just had to read the rest.
Staff Sergeant Mosher grew up on a farm in Minnesota. He said he was writing to thank me for the wonderful stories. . .and to tell me that the stories brought back memories from his own childhood that he had not thought about in years.
I'm really not sure how a copy of "Give Me a Home" ended up in Afghanistan, though.
Several years ago, the son of one of my husband's co-workers was deployed to Iraq, and I know I put a copy of my first book, Christmas in Dairyland, in the box along with other items that people at Randy's place of employment were donating to be shipped to Iraq, but that was before "Give Me a Home" had been published.
Anyway, I am glad that Give Me a Home Where the Dairy Cows Roam made it to Afghanistan. . .and that it was read. . .and enjoyed.
I am going to send a copy of Cream of the Crop to Staff Sergeant Mosher as my gift.
I hope he likes it!
LeAnn R. Ralph
P.S. It is bright and sunny and windy and COLD here on Friday afternoon. Sophie continues to improve -- but she doesn't like the medicine any more now than she did on Monday. . .
