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Winter Is Here

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Winter Is Here

Technically, it won’t start until December 21, but up here in the northeast, despite a nice week ahead winter is here.

The leaves are falling and by mid November the trees will be bare and all we’ll have to look at until sometime in April is drab gray tree trunks and limbs. Oh, we’ll have some amount of snow through the winter and that will make it quasi festive for a few hours.

It’s not at all unheard of for there to be snow on the ground by Thanksgiving, let alone in time for Christmas. Which we don’t celebrate and so a white Christmas is just another day I have to get the snow blower out and clear the driveway.

In addition to the snow blower, I’ll drag out my roof rake, shovels, rock salt, sand, ice scrapers, winter clothes, and boots. Each year I hate the cold more and more.

Most of the time I finish clearing the driveway just in time for a snow plow to come along and block the end of the driveway with yet more snow.

In addition to leaves falling, the temperatures will start to drop, which means that outdoor activities will come to an end until sometime in April.

I’ll be constrained to riding my exercise bike in the family room while my road bike sits in the garage with gradually deflating tires. Nor will I be able to sit out on my deck, enjoy a good cigar, watch TV, or anything else, again until sometime in April.

So, you might ask, why do we stay here?

Part of that is habit. We both grew up here, most of our friends and relatives grew up here, we’re used to the familiar surroundings.

Yet, that is changing. Several friends have moved out of state at least part of the year. Others have moved out permanently. A couple have died, which is the natural course of life, but doesn’t make it any better. One friend is in the late stages of a shockingly fast progressive Dementia and may not see another spring.

My son, daughter in law, and grandkids live in South Carolina. My daughter lives in Texas and is in a very serious relationship with a young man who might end up being my son in law.

So, Mrs. EMS Artifact and I have decided to start the process of getting the house ready to be sold and finding a new place to live. It’s a bit daunting to consider a move like this after living all of my life in the same state.

The question really is to where will we move?  That’s not completely settled, but we have some ideas. Of course the state of the economy, a decrease in the value of our house, rising interest rates make it all the more of a challenge. We’ll figure it out, but I’m sure we’ll have some angst along the way.

Stay tuned.

 

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After a long career as a field EMS provider, I'm now doing all that back office stuff I used to laugh at. Life is full of ironies, isn't it? I still live in the Northeast corner of the United States, although I hope to change that to another part of the country more in tune with my values and beliefs. I still write about EMS, but I'm adding more and more non EMS subject matter. Thanks for visiting.

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