A.D. Trosper

So yeah, I am beyond sick of winter. I always am by the time the holiday season is over. All the pretty lights, big over the top dinners, and anticipation are over. All that is left is the flat gray sky, brown tree limbs and endless days of cold. In an effort to look at it differently, I’m going to list the pros and cons of winter.

Pros:

I can sit on my front porch without being accosted by mosquitoes, junebugs, and other assorted critters from the cornucopia of creepy crawlers that Kansas has to offer.

The air isn’t so laden with moisture from the humidity that it’s hard to breathe.

It doesn’t feel like a blast furnace outside.

Wildlife is easier to see due to the lack of leaves on trees and bushes

No tornadoes (for the most part)

I get to wear the thick, fuzzy socks I like that come in a variety of wild colors

I get to go bra-less because I almost always have some sort of thick sweatshirt on over my t-shirt

No sweating every ounce of electrolytes out of my body while in the garden

Frozen food is less likely to thaw out on the 30 mile drive home from the grocery store.

No pollens to drive the sinuses crazy

Snow is pretty

Cons: 

Yes, I can sit on my front porch without the creepy crawlies. Instead my nose freezes shut and I make great inroads on the path to hypothermia

The air is so cold and dry it burns the throat and lungs.

It’s so cold outside that the furnace struggles to keep up, creating air that resembles that of Death Valley which causes havoc with the sinuses.

Though logically I know the trees and bushes are only sleeping (smart lifeforms that they are) through the winter, it’s hard not to look at the brown, stripped down landscape and not imagine an apocalypse.

The icy wind stabs its frozen fingers through as many layers as you can wear and still move

I can’t go barefoot or in flip-flops

I have to wear thick sweat shirts in an attempt to stave off freezing to death

No garden. Which means no fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, etc (store bought does NOT count because it pales in comparison with real food)

Non-frozen food may need to be thawed by the time it makes the 30 mile drive home from the store

The prevalence of winter time illness just waiting to drag people into its evil clutches.

Snow stops being pretty the moment I have to walk through it, or it comes in on the dogs’ paws, or I have to shovel it, or try to load groceries in it, or push a cart out to my car in the slick, slushy mess that is parking lot at the store.

After reviewing my lists, I have come to the conclusion that I’m done with winter. I’m ready for spring now. This sudden desire for warmer weather is aided and abetted by the various seed companies who have graciously reminded me of the wonders of warm weather by sending stacks of seed catalogs full of pictures of green growing things and beautiful flowers.

As of right now there are 64 days until spring… 9 weeks. I’m going to go with 9 weeks because somehow that doesn’t sound as long as 64 days. And I know that warmer weather will actually show up before the official first day of spring. So to make myself feel better, I’m claiming only seven more weeks until I start seeing the first signs of Spring’s return.

Until then I’m going to continue avoiding the cold as much as possible. I’m going to wear warm, brightly-colored, fuzzy socks, drink hot coffee and alternate between writing and binge watching on Netflix while I wonder why bears and trees get to hibernate and humans don’t.

For those that are as eager for spring as I am, here is a link to spring countdown