Mixed blessing

© harrington

Outside, the rain is coming down. Inside, the bread is rising in the oven. Life is full of contrasts and contradictions. From what I've been hearing recently, before the airwaves became fixated on the horrendous slaughter in Connecticut, the ground in much of My Minnesota is still permeable enough that some of the snow melt will be able to seep in. This will be good for the drought-parched soil and the plants growing in it and the animals that depend on plants growing in soil (or water for that matter, hello, water-lilies). However, this being December, the beginning of winter in this part of the country, it's a safe bet that there may be freezing temperatures before the snow melt / rain mix finishes seeping or running off. That will leave us hardy winter-enduring types with everything, or at least much, covered with an ice/frozen snow combination. Best we humans keep the bird feeders full and give some thought to setting up feeding stations for the local deer herd. Unless of course we get enough days of warmer weather that the remaining snow melts and we get to celebrate a brown Christmas. If we make it past the Mayan end of the world, I'm going to ask Santa for a kit to help adapt to wild weather swings. May(an) day at S(olstice) minus 6 and counting.