Winter Survival

In the months of January and February, I have the house all to myself during the week. This has its advantages, in that I can watch whatever I want on TV, engage in crafty things for hours, and eat whatever I want for dinner. But it also has its disadvantages, like being the only one around to let the dogs out in the snow, drive to the emergency room, or shovel the driveway. For example. Our area is recovering from its third major snowstorm of the winter. Snow isn't foreign to us in Virginia; we get snow every winter. But it's rare that we get this much, and this much all at once. And then two more times. Our area shuts down when it snows, a phenomenon that is much lamented and laughed at every time it happens. I have sociological theories on why our region panics in response to snow, but I doubt they would be very interesting to very many gentle readers. I've been snowed in for almost a week, with one small break between storms to run some necessary errands. All this time at home, contemplating life and its necessities, led me to come up with a short list of what I need to survive being snowed in. I was lucky enough to never lose power, so I've had shelter, heat, food, and water. Taking those things for granted, I was thinking of what was getting me through the hours of alone time.

This is going to sound strange, but one of the best things I did to prepare for the storm(s) was to fill the bird feeders. With everything under several feet of snow, the birds needed some nourishment. My deck has become bird central. We've had many, many cardinals (see the first image in this post, and note the cardinal in the tree behind the deck), blue jays, gold- and red finches, juncos, woodpeckers, tufted tit mouses, chickadees, sparrows, and probably others I am forgetting. I found two really great bird feeders on Etsy.

I really love the copper roof on this wooden bird feeder from BeeGracious.

This industrial bird feeder is from joepapendick. It's made from steel and (again, my favorite) copper.

I decided another essential for survival was warm feet. I couldn't believe these felted slippers from ing00te when I saw them - they actually look like bark.

These sweet little black slippers from scrapsnstuff would be great for keeping warm, too.

Of course, if you're curled up on the couch, even if you're wearing slippers, you're going to need a blanket. And this winter calls for military strength warmth - try this vintage wool Army blanket from ethanollie.

Sundance has a Swiss Army blanket that would do the job, too.

My last essential? Juice glasses to keep your immunity up. I found this vintage set at jetsetvintage. While I'm waiting for the thaw, I'll just keep throwing another dog on, and try to stay connected to humanity via the interwebs.