Cold. Cloudy. This is the Desert?

I'm just whining this morning. Forgive.

"Winter is cold. Winter is wet. Winter is not the time to be preparing for winter."

I wrote that a long time ago, and it remains true. The section of the world I inhabit, though certainly desert, is rarely all that horribly hot. Though it's hardly Minnesota, in winter it can get unpleasantly cold. And windy. And wet.

Hey, I was raised in the Midwest; I'm not shocked by winter. I also left the Midwest, partially because I was sick and tired of winter. And winter weather here affects all the infrastructure. The solar collectors don't like even slight cloud cover. Water lines freeze when it gets really cold. The wind keeps blowing my *&^! water heater pilot out. My current lair is very poorly insulated, so it's rarely really warm. I genuinely dislike winter. But at least I don't have to deal with black ice, heavy snow and the traction issues that plagued my younger years. When you're an amputee, traction is always an issue.

Normally, on cold-water days I cocoon indoors and read and mope. Today's going to be a good day, though. My landlady is coming to visit for the weekend and that's always a treat. She brings goodies - I'm particularly addicted to Trader Joe's house-blend coffee, simply the best coffee for the price on the planet. If you like a dark roast coffee, try this stuff. Anyway, part of my monthly list'o'demands is a can of TJ's coffee, and she always delivers. Her visits mean I get to cook for someone else, which while I'm not sure I'd want to do it every day is still a treat from time to time. She's mostly an "eat it from the package" type, so even simple home cooking is a treat for her and it's nice to be appreciated. And later this evening there's the neighbors' get-together to look forward to. So it'll be a good day, the weather be damned.