Steve Mills and his wife have one daughter. They previously owned two coffee/ice cream shops, currently operate an internet sales company and teach classes, but his primary job involves the paper industry worldwide. Hobbies and interests lie in gardening, photography, recorded music and of course, their pets.

Brrrrr. What more needs to be said?

Posted Sunday, January 3, 2010, at 10:14 AM

Frost crystal on the windshield this morning.

As I sat with our adopted cats this morning I noticed that even the birds were not in a hurry to get moving in the 15 degree weather. I can't say that I looked forward to it but it was a dry, still cold and it did not seem as bad as days earlier, at first. The cats seemed to be doing fine.

In fact Sable was sitting on top of an old recliner that was dumped in the woods years ago and seemed quite comfy. Ever since I caught her to check her sex, (over a month ago ) she has always waited for me to back away before she comes to the food.

Why was I so curious about male or female? The Humane Society was going to help me neuter them ad wanted to know the count. That never came about, so I betrayed her trust for nothing, but.....

After I got back to the house and filled the bird feeders without gloves, I appreciated just how cold it was this morning. Talked with one of my eBay students down near the base of the mountain and they had SINGLE digits. Her husband was trying to thaw out some water pipes and I certainly wished them well. I can vividly remember laying under a house I owned in Murfreesboro to replace all of the pipe under the house and a few places in the outside walls. NO FUN!

Wile I was out feeding the birds I also ran across a "doogie doodoo" from our newest arrival. It was right in my walkway on a patio stone, so I figured since it was frozen, now would be better than later to remove it. Simple, just knock it loose. Not quite. I hit I with a stick and kicked it with the heel of my boot. I figured stronger tactics might brake the patio stone, so...... it is still there.

The birds certainly appreciated the refill. Between those on the feeders and those on the ground, I would guess several hundred answered the chow bell. As you might guess, the grass grows real well below the bird feeders. I am thankful that the Lord allows me to be able to feed them, when I know there are families scrounging for something to feed their kids. We help the best we can, but that makes it even tougher when we see people abusing the food stamp programs.

OK, enough with the social consciousness. I could REALLY go off on a tangent here and I try to refrain from using these blogs in that manner. There are plenty more out there who will, so I will let them carry the load. Occasionally I get out-of-hand but not today.