No Snow This Morning (Illusory or Otherwise)

It's Getting Warmer

"Warm" is a relative term in the winter, as most of you horse bloggers know. So when I saw that the thermometer was reading right around freezing, at 32 F, there was a definite change in the air.

Curious that I spoke to a good friend on the phone yesterday about going out to the barn, and the topic slipped into the recent cold weather we'd been having. She noted that she had always thought winter was better than summer. In the summer, she observed, once you were outdoors there really wasn't much way to escape the heat. But at least in the winter, you could bundle up to escape the cold. But now that she has grown older, she's not so sure any more.

The topic always reminds of a Robert Frost poem:

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire
Some say ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
--Robert Frost

While the poem has several levels of meaning metaphorically comparing fire and ice to human emotions, I've always looks at the more superficial connection to which end of the world would be better...fire or ice? Summer or winter? This is a very simplistic view, but certainly relevant when my toes are cold or my head is sweating.

Of course, one of the benefits of winter is that there are no flies or mosquitoes to torment the Boys. I do have to keep on the lookout for ticks, however. I haven't noticed any sign of them since the deep freeze, but they do seem to be around for the more "moderate" winter days. Just where are my wild turkeys anyhow?