Omnibus

Cold. Cold cold cold cold cold. There's a windchill of something like negative 13. And drifting snow. It's ridiculous. Most of the time I like living in the country--it's quiet, I can garden and the dogs and cats have plenty of room to roam and do their thing outside. But this wintriness is really oppressive. The individual components--fine. I can deal with cold, with wind, with snow and ice--but in sum....jeebus. The only thing I've learned or come to appreciate lately--I need heavier socks.

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It's not been without its weird little pleasures though. The other evening these two fat does were grazing in the yard, they got within about 10 feet of the house. Snow was falling, it was getting darker out, very pretty. The dogs of course did nothing...no barking...no running...they were content to let the deer do their thing. As much as I enjoyed watching it, I kept thinking how do I keep them out of my garden this spring/summer. They ravaged my tomatoes last year and nothing I've tried has kept them away. Something to consider and Google. Especially since it's getting to be time to sew seeds and wait and see what takes.

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I've always been impressed with people who come across as naturists--they see a tree, they know it; they see birds, they know them. I've picked up some of this, but mainly with plants. We've been feeding birds lately which has been sort of fun. I had to download a pdf detailing birds that winter in West Virgina just so I could suss out what was feeding and what I could offer to diversify the species. So far we've had jays and cardinals, Carolina wrens, dark eyed juncos, evening grosbeaks, tufted titmice (is that the plural of titmouse? or should it be titmouses?), chickadees, some sort of sparrows and starlings. I really hate starlings. They're vicious, greedy, nasty things. Invasive. They even manage to bully off blue jays. I just hope the cats don't begin hunting birds. They were maniacs last year hunting moles, voles, ground squirrels and rabbits; which I support. It keeps them out of my beds and garden. But I don't really want them hunting and killing birds. Well--I wouldn't care if they kill starlings.

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I've been trying to tackle and finish a new poem. I think it's the first of this new group--the next step. It's been tough. The draft I'm working at now is just too short, it ends too quickly, without earning the finale. So I'm working toward expanding the poem. It feels different than the earlier poems--not so much in its concerns or language--but in execution: more enjambment, a more lyrical rhythm, its a gentler cadence than the others. I've been working on it every day and it just might be I'm working it too hard. It's proving resistant. But it's satisfying. It'll get there.