It's Cold in sunny Florida!

At 6:30 this morning the tv said it was 16 degrees here and expected to drop several more degrees in the next couple of hours! Tonight's supposed to be even colder!

Well, all of the plants I'd tried to protect by putting them on the front porch weeks back died when the wind tore all of the plastic down for the third time, so I don't have them to worry about. And all of the animals are inside, so I don't have to worry about them either. So for now my focus is just keeping as warm as possible with two small space heaters. Of course, if I sit in my chair or get in bed I'm immediately covered with animals and actually find that a little too warm sometimes!

Okay, the tv just said it's 14 degrees now!

I just got all of the ingredients out to make a pot of chili. That should help.

I've been off of the computer for a while because I've been quite sick. Acute bronchitis. Have finished my antibiotic and have 2 more days of the steroid to take. I hate taking that. I bloat up so terribly and have Mother's round face. It does help with the breathing however. Today I feel much more like myself. (Didn't miss any work! Couldn't!)

My sister objected to my mentioning her (and her medical conditions) on this blog. So from now on please know she's very much in my life and very important to me, but shall go unmentioned!

The cats are going crazy! They are running from door to door and yelling. They want to go outside and I'm not going to let them until it warms up a bit. They have 2 litter boxes and they are both clean. So they can just settle down! Jazzy went out at 6 this morning and I'd no more closed the door than she barked to come back in. She just went out again and stayed long enough to do her business and came back in. Shirley has decided that she'll just sleep through this!

Oh good. The tv just said it'll get up to almost 50 degrees today. It can't happen soon enough!

I'm dressed in layers...wool slippers w/2 pairs of socks, sweat pants, a short sleeved silk tee shirt with a heavy turtle neck sweater, a long caftan and a wool jacket. All topped with a knit cap. Last night while watching tv I wore 2 caps! I may be setting a new winter style! It's amazing to me, but I'm even finding my glasses warm!

I went to the grocery store after work yesterday. They've rearranged several sections to fool us into thinking they are well stocked, but it's quite obvious that the stock isn't as plentiful as it used to be. Of course, think about it...I've never understood the need for umpteen dozen types of canned soup, or a gazillion different types of bread, etc. Maybe this will help us get back to basic cooking...or not. The meat section is the one that bothers me the most. It looks like there's been a run on meats and they just haven't had the time to restock. That, however, is not the case. There is just less meat available. Perhaps folks are not buying as much and the threat of spoilage is greater. Who knows? Well, as is all things, I feel sure this too shall pass. Just when I'm not sure, but we are a very resilient country with some good basic values and I feel that if the dudes and dudettes in Washington can screw their heads on straight everything will work out! I sure hope so!

Stay warm!