Sunny and Freezing, I tackle the LIST

Almost the end of March. The spring equinox came and went without much fanfare. It has been colder this week and the mucky drive is drier and more solid, mostly because it is frozen again. Fooled by the sunshine I set out to prune the overgrown honeysuckles (Lonicera tartarica) and some other shrubs yesterday morning. The thermometer said Zero but I figured it would warm up with the sunshine. At noon I admitted defeat, half frozen from the north wind that made the day feel more like -14 'C. The rest of the garden work will have to wait for a milder day.
This is day two of fierce wind, and we are burning our way through the wood we bought last fall for next winter. This winter we easily burned 3 1/2 cords, almost double what we burned last year. This winter though it was cold in early October and it is still cold now. Where as last winter it was still warm in November and spring in February. Having said that, we burned 100 L less of oil in the furnace. A result of both of us being home much of the time and the wood stove being lit more than last year.
Last night we remembered to turn off the lights for Earth Hour. It was really dark and all we could to was sit by the fire and talk about the Federal Election. The sweetie is a political junky and is very excited about the election. I am already bored with the idea, especially knowing that for the next 36 days, I will have to endure him yelling sarcastic comments at the TV whenever Stephen Harper appears. We cancelled cable two weeks ago, and he is really missing the all news channels. We still have internet though, so he can watch much of what is going on that way. I have a friend who, when she gets exasperated at her DH for one of his many quirks, his response is to say "How can you complain? I could be an alcoholic, gambling wife beater?" With this in mind I try to remind myself that my situation could be worse, the Sweetie could watch sports.
The thought of being called back to work soon has spurred me to do some of those things on my List with a capital L, only to be thwarted by technology at every turn. You know the List, those things that take a back seat when you are busy, and when you have time you are so used to them that you forget they need attention.
Like the pepper grinder that probably hasn't worked well for two or three years now. Last week in an effort to get something out of it I tightened the top knob too much and cracked the top completely into two pieces. It went on the grocery list for two weeks before I remembered to pick one up.
Snazzy yes? It is a ceramic grinder and so far we are still over peppering as one small twist equals about 15 twists from the old grinder. Small victories.
The alarm clock was another victory. Shortly after we bought it 10 years ago I dropped it and the face plate came off and the radio didn't tune quite right so that when the radio alarm went off you could hear the beeping alarm in the back ground. Annoying yes, but only until you get up and then you promptly forgot about it (for a decade) Last week I dropped it again (it was a clumsy week last week) and the digital numbers stopped displaying properly. At one point the dear sweetie asked what time it was and I replied, "L 1 L." In my defence of this decade long apathy I will say that I tried to replace it last Christmas time, but when I got to the store I was overwhelmed at the choices and left after 15 minutes without purchasing anything. Did I want one alarm or two? Did I want it to project the time? Automatically update? Have a choice of noises? Have an ipod charger? What colour? This time I took the DS with me and he helped me through it, crisis averted.
And the thermometer. We have one outside the kitchen window to tell us what to wear in the morning. Except it is on the east side of the house and while it is very accurate after 10am, in the early morning while the sun is rising and while we are getting dressed, it lies. It increases the real temperature by several degrees. Note the jaunty angle from having fallen off the bracket every time there is an east wind. How can you trust such a thing? There have been many days I set out with only a t shirt when I should have been wearing a sweater and hat. So I purchased a new one, with the proper numbers larger than the others, and the DS put it outside the living room window on the north side for more accurate morning temperatures. The picture tells the the flaw in this plan. Take only 1 minute after the last picture, the temperature is 5 degrees higher on the north side of the house at supper time when the sun is setting and hits this spot! It amazes me that the sun comes that far around the house only a few days after the vernal equinox.
While not exactly on the List, last week I picked a dear friend up at the airport and as a thank you (or perhaps as a late birthday pressie) she gave me this beautifully quilted tea cosy. What a hoot!
And finally, gratuitous cute cat photo.