The Discontent Of Our Winter

In the bleak mid-winter

Frosty wind made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron,

Water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow,

Snow on snow,

In the bleak mid-winter

Long ago.

In the Bleak Midwinter by Christina Rossetti.

It snowed here at the Fortress of Ineptitude Friday night.

Again.

Clumps of ice and snow still clung to the edge of our house from the last time it snowed.

And the time before that. 

I know there are places in this country where this is just life: it snows and it snows again, snow on snow. 

Here in North Carolina, I'm just not used to it and enough is enough. 

My point of view is not helped by the stresses of work.

I have to work 5 extra hours a week at my job. 

Again, I know there are those in the work force who face worse pressures, longer overtime hours or working more than 1 job.

But those 5 hours are for me a bit more than I'm ready to accept.

As I move further from the beginning of my life and closer to the end of it, I am less inclined to put up with things. 

I barely tolerate working 40 hours a week. 

I keep crunching the numbers to see if I can retire already. 

My goals for retirement are simple. I just want to cuddle up under my favorite blanket in a comfy chair and watch my stories on TV.

No, I'm not talking about soap operas but my beloved reruns of Law & Order, MASH, Gilmore Girls and others. 

I think I can get away with early retirement if I am prepared to cuddle up under my favorite blanket in a comfy chair and watch my stories on TV from inside a cardboard box.

So ixnay on the retirement just now?

Unless I can get my hands on a particularly strong cardboard box, a sturdy kind that doesn't mind the snow.

And more snow.  

As if the snow outside and overtime hours inside weren't feeding my discontent for this winter, the news of the world out there does nothing for my mood. 

Inflation is making everything cost more.

Russia's threatening war over Ukraine.

The pandemic is still a thing as various right wing ideologues work aggressively against all strategies to mitigate the spread of COVID and it's variants including saying no to masks and vaccines.

The shadow of the January 6th insurrection from last year still looms large as various right wing ideologues work aggressively against all efforts to get to the truth of what happened and who was responsible. 

There's a lot to feed the discontent of our winter.  

It's enough to make want to just cuddle up under my favorite blanket in a comfy chair and watch my stories on TV.