It's 5:05 on this Sunday afternoon and the sun is just about to set.

Must be late December, right near the winter solstice. Yep.

That's OK, the days will start getting longer now. I've got to keep telling myself that. Yet I cannot forget a news item from our local paper which stated: "In Kansas, the coldest winter weather usually occurs in late January and early February."

Oh, great. Like what we're having now isn't the worst of it. I drove to Kearney, Nebraska yesterday to wrap up the last of my Christmas shopping (the stuff I couldn't do online) and was amazed by how quickly skin can go numb in low temps combined hard wind. It was single-digit temperatures all day (and no, I'm not talking about Celsius, either). While the roads were fine (well plowed), parking lots were hit and miss.

Perhaps that's not the best term to use for yesterday. Just kidding, although I did slide just a little around a couple of the parking areas. No contact with other vehicles.

Shout out to little Geosister--Remember that scarf you gave me for Christmas eons ago? It's being used now. And Geodad, some years back you gave me a pair of Thisulate gloves. They do come in handy whenever I venture outside now.

And we will have a white Christmas, as this stuff on the ground definitely won't melt before then.