Janet's Blog

I walk two or three miles nearly every day, as long as the temperature is above 20 degrees and the wind isn't blowing a gale. That means I haven't been able to walk outside much in the last week, due to the frigid temperatures and sometimes ferocious wind. But yesterday, the freezing weather moved on, and the west breeze was tolerable, so I pulled on my down jacket and mid-calf snow boots and ventured out into the sunshine. Our eight inches of snow was rapidly melting into mounds of slush and widening puddles in the streets and on the sidewalks that homeowners hadn't bothered to shovel. It was the first time I had walked outside in several days, so I enjoyed the sunny afternoon, even when I had to make my way gingerly across the sloppy streets and expanses of un-scooped walks.  Walking outdoors in God's beautiful creation is so much better than walking laps indoors or using my strider in the basement. I was almost home when I came to a corner that seemed impassable. A c...

Winter has never been my favorite season of the year. I love to be outdoors, but not when the air temperature is cold enough to kill me. And not when the frigid northwest wind blows the flags straight out from their poles, and threatens to blow me off my feet. But the temperature isn't the worst of it; I really hate the depressing brown landscape that dominates our winters in the Nebraska panhandle. For me, a skiff of snow is a blessing that covers up the brown and adds some contrast to an otherwise dull vista. Frosty trees are magical. Blazing sunsets, though short lived, revive my sagging spirits. In the dead of winter, I have to look hard to find beauty in the brown. Frosty pine trees line the highway south of town. Footprints on the uncleared path lead to the Monument. He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes. Psalm 147:16 A dusting of snow covers the ground just to the east of Chimney Rock, as the setting sun illuminates the sky. Freezing rain can be tre...

I was reading an article the other day about a mom in England who let her young daughter ride her horse to school one morning. The mom rode along, too, on her own horse, and led her daughter's pony home afterwards. The main issue with this was the fact that the school children all gathered around the pony, just outside the school gates, to pet the horses. When one entitled eight-year-old insisted that she wanted to ride the other girl's pony, the horses' owner let her know that it wouldn't be safe for her to do that, since she had no helmet or prior experience. Upon hearing that response, the girl's equally entitled mother pitched a fit, insisting that her daughter be allowed to ride and, when that failed, she complained to the school authorities that horses should not be ridden to school unless everyone (especially her darling daughter) was also allowed to ride. I guess that riding horses to school has become a novelty. I've ridden horses since before I could w...

As I sit here watching the snow fall--again--I am amazed at this year's winter weather. Normally, January is our driest month, but not this year. In fact, it has been reported that this has been the wettest, snowiest January in the Scottsbluff area in all of recorded history. That’s 130 years! The ground has not been totally snow-free since early December. And the streets! Let's just say that the city appears to have already used up most of its snow removal budget for this winter. Out of town trips have been treacherous, requiring much advance planning and weather watching. Roads have often been closed. Even when the highways are passable, black ice and ground blizzards have made travel a challenge this winter. Last week, when I rode with a friend to an appointment in Cheyenne, we were grateful to have picked the best travel day of the week, with only one sketchy stretch of road. Headed home from Cheyenne, through the Wildcat Hills. Here in the Nebraska Panhandle, it seems like...

I'll confess, I was the one who asked for a lot of snow. Okay, I may not have been the only one, because when the whole state is officially in severe or even extreme drought, there are bound to be others who have also prayed for the moisture we need so badly.  I didn't expect to get a lot of snow this weekend, though. When the temperature hovers at 0 degrees, or even lower, any snow we get doesn't usually amount to much. The -30 degree wind chill doesn't even enter into it. Apparently, this snowstorm didn't get the memo--and God answered my prayer, sending the moisture we need, in spite of the forecast.  Originally, the meteorologists were predicting a frigid weekend, with maybe an inch or two of fluffy, white snow. Well, this snow is fluffy, all right, all 8 to 10 inches of it. (That's just a guess.) I'm not complaining, not at all, because a foot of fluffy snow produces much more moisture than just an inch or two. The last time we had significant snow was ...