They Say Snow's A-Coming

And I'm looking forward to it.  Not only because I want to go snowshoeing on Saturday at Barkhausen but if it's snowing then there're clouds and it'll be in the 20s.  Eeeee, the 20s seem like a heat wave just now.

Today's Photo a Day theme is "stripes" and if you look very closely you can see a contrail stripe running across this morning's sky.  Serendipity, you gotta love it.

Yesterday a guy came into the store for a shortie wetsuit to take to Belize tomorrow and naturally had to try them on.  He stripped off his outer layers before he ever got into the try-on room and then came out in the shortie... and his longies, thick socks, and undershirt.  At first I thought about how silly that was but then I realized that I really don't want to strip down to my skivvies lately either... and what if he was going commando in his longies.  He probably was; men are like that.  Ewww.  He was my only buying customer yesterday so I put less than a hundred bucks into the till.  One customer I had to show how to put on the mask he bought earlier so that it didn't leak so much (he has a bristly moustache) and the other one wanted a swim cap to keep water out of his ears.  We don't have swim caps.  I showed him the uber-cool earplugs we have but he was fixated on a cap.  He was very disappointed to learn that water gets under a diver's hood and may come back for the plugs.  Probably not when I'm there, of course, but at least it'd be a sale.  My chore for the day was to update the point-of-sale (POS) with 2013 prices from one of our major suppliers.  That is such a tedious job, but I managed to get through it.  (see? that's how quiet it was in there)  Today I get to re-tag things that changed which happily won't take as long and will give me a little workout crawling around to find everything.

I did get some of Durwood's potato broccoli soup for supper last night, with crumbled bacon and shaved sharp cheddar cheese on top.  It was very yummy and very warming.  Durwood wasn't thrilled, not that he's unwilling to share his soup, but he considers soup (and pizza) lunch food.  Obviously he's a man who never grew up eating pancakes or cereal for supper when Mom was too frazzled to make a meal and too broke to get fast food burgers.  Or even "pick shit with the chickens" which was my family's code for grazing the leftovers and  whatever else you can find in the kitchen.  We also have discussions about "summer food" vs "winter food."  I say summer food is light--pasta with lots of veggies and a thin sauce with grilled meat--and winter food is heavier--hearty soups and stews with thick sauces and lots of root veggies.  He says that there's no season for stew or soup.  That kind of grub makes me too hot when it's hot outside.  It's a wonder we've stayed married this long.

January 24--Peru, Sican, Beaker.  Te'ru wrapped his hand around the gold beaker, covering the god's face with trembling fingers.  He had poured a measure of cane liquor into the vessel while his lips moved in silent recitation of the prayer.  Flames leaped from the logs laid on the plaza below his aerie, sparks riding the updrafts like prayers rising to Heaven.  The soft sounds of bare feet on stone told him that the faithful had gathered, that soon his offering needed to be made.  The last rays of the sun gilded the pillars and stained their edges red.  The chant began.  He raised the beaker in his now-confident hands and stepped to the parapet to play his part.

So, is he performing a rite, making a sacrifice, or preparing to BE the sacrifice?  I can't decide but I like it, it seems warm there, and I'm chilled.  Time to shower and dress in multiple layers to survive the day.  At least it's sunny; I can't decry a sunny day.  Bundle up.
--Barbara