Listening to the music

I envy people who can listen to music on a radio or device all day long.  I love various kinds of music, but if I listen to it an hour or so, even my favorite music drives me crazy and I have to have silence.  I used to listen to songs as I cooked, but at this age I need to concentrate on what I'm making.  Every time I try listening to my favorite podcast or CD while cooking, I will mis-measure something or leave an ingredient out.  Dementia?  If that's what it is, I hope it helps me forget the past year, because I've been depressed so often this winter, some days.  If I let myself think too much, it takes all the strength I have not to cry, although there's no reason I should feel that way.  

Enough of that!  

Spring is only a month away; I'll be fine then.  I'll probably be OK once it gets up to 40 degrees, to be honest, because when I can walk around freely outside out in the sunshine, I'm happy.  I saw stars in the sky when I took Gabe out this morning and wondered whether we'd have sunshine today.  Weather.com says it will be sunny this morning in Wellington, then turn to partly cloudy.  I get most of my weather reports on weather.com; that way, I can check the forecast any time of day without having to listen to 500 commercials before I find out what the weather is!  I can also type in other towns anywhere in the world and see how they are faring.  Yesterday I checked the temperature in Mission, Texas, where my sister and her husband went every winter to escape the cold of Kansas City.  After he died, she still drove down there alone until she was around 87... over 1,000 miles from Kansas City; then she sold the place.  It was 27 there yesterday, so I suppose the grapefruit crop is ruined for the year.  

2021 is saying to 2020, "Hold my beer and watch this!"

I don't know if poor Mama Kitty would have lived through these brutal temperatures without her converted ice chest to sleep in, although I imagine she would have survived.  She spends 24 hours a day in her igloo cooler keeping warm as possible, only getting out to drink, eat, and relieve herself in the snow.  Her condo is right outside the front door, so if I open our inside door to check on her, she comes out and lets me know if she wants to eat and drink.  Yesterday I tried my best to get her to come inside to eat.  She's having none of that!  She doesn't want to be trapped anywhere; that's why I'm surprised she uses her little house on the porch.  Of course for at least six hours through the night, she has Blue snuggling with her, which probably doubles the heat her body is getting.  Blue is in the house all day while it's so cold, except when he needs to go outside.  He and Gabe have been my salvation during this hard winter; between the two of them, they lighten my mood and make me laugh, even on the worst days.  A couple of days ago, Blue stayed out long enough to kill a woodpecker, play with the carcass for a half-hour or so, and then leave it on the porch as a gift for me when he was done. 

Evergy is doing that thing where they say they will shut off electricity for 30 to 60 minutes for everybody at different times.  The grandson said he didn't think they are doing it in the country.  I hope he's right, because we have a well with an electric pump.  We are without water when we don't have power:  No flushing, no dish-washing, no showers, no coffee for Cliff or tea for me.  However, we'll deal with it if it happens.

Here is what keeps me laughing:  The escapades of Blue and Gabe.  We get to watch these wrestling matches several times a day; the cat is always the one to attack first.  He slinks and stalks Gabe, then surprises him by jumping on top of him... and the wrestling begins!