January was a brutal month for the poor animals and birds that had to be in it. We spent a lot of time trying to feed and get water for them. Even in winter it’s important that they have water. Becky had given us a heater for the bird-bath at Christmas time and it worked great….the poor birds really appreciated all the help they could get. Heavy snow had caused a large limb to break out of a pine tree in our yard and Bear worked to get that cut up so we could clear it out.

Up north the folks were getting unbelievable temperatures coming in off of the Great Lakes and it spread clear down into the southlands. For several days we had a wind chill of -39* below zero. It felt like it striped the hide right off your face. Someone was off sick from one crew or the other the whole month…..the flu and colds were taking a toll on everyone.

This was the time all public buildings were to be up to specifications for wheel-chair accessibility and in these little towns with antiquated Court Houses, it was a mess. They had to have ramps from outside the building to the entrance and then some way to get people up to the higher floors. The construction went on for months. The dust and noise together made for a long day at each office. We were almost glad when we had to go out in the cold to run a road test.

The weather wasn’t any better when February came in. The wind and freezing temperatures were making life hard on everyone, especially the poor animals. Bear was summoned to jury duty in Springfield and drove up for that……he rather enjoyed it, I suppose with his Army Intelligence background it was interesting to him. They later settled out of court so he didn’t go back.

This was leap year so February lasted a little longer. By the end of the month we were all eagerly looking forward to March with hopes our normal weather would return and bring signs of spring. It had been a long, hard winter for south Missouri…….

Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther