The end of February has arrived, and with it, the proverbial winter blues. I live in Pennsylvania by way of Ohio, so cold whiteout winters are a way of life around my parts. But just because I should be used to it doesn’t mean the snow and freezing temperatures and dry skin and ridiculous amounts of layers don’t get to me. Plus, I haven’t traveled almost anywhere in the last couple months, which means there’s also not much in the way of new content for Weird Wanderings. Double bummer.
Enhancing the omnipresent reminder of winter is the fact that my husband and I live in the country on several acres of land. Unlike city dwellers who at least have concrete and the occasional skyscraper to remind them that life does indeed go on, snow and miserable temperatures notwithstanding, I peer into my backyard and realize this is exactly the winter horrors that haunted pioneers’ nightmares two centuries ago.
However, one of my favorite creepy winter pastimes is trying to determine exactly what animals make the myriad of tracks across our property. If you’re like my husband, you know at a glance which beastie traversed the land. But if you’re like me, every footprint is so mysterious that I still insist we’ve had an amalgam of werewolf, Mothman, and creature unknown on our acreage at one time or another.
But country life isn’t so bad. At least it’s quiet. And it’s pretty cool when your own backyard looks like the perfect setting for a classic winter ghost story. Get the fireplace roaring and some hot grog simmering, and you’ve got a classically weird winter evening. Still, I look forward to trading the tinder for the flower garden, and the heavy winter coats for short sleeves and skirts.
So those are my wintry musings for this end of February. What are your thoughts on snow? Love it? Hate it? Ambivalent toward it? Let me know in the comments below.
Happy haunting, and here’s to warmer weather on the horizon!