Brrrr! It's cold out there!

After two days of living in a cloud of fog (one old-timer said it was the worst fog in 20 years), today we can see a bit higher toward the sky, but the clouds look heavy, and flurries are predicted.

The bigger change is that for the past two days we've had highs in the 50s, almost 60 (!), but as I write, the windchill is 11 (F) and predicted to be below zero tomorrow night.  Not a good breathing day, for this asthmatic. :(

Our schedule is so erratic that those who know us best can't even predict our routine.  A phone call at 7.09 AM wondered if the Farmer had left yet.  A phone call at 7.46 AM wondered if he were awake yet.  You never know! 

Due to the impending freeze, 7.15 each morning this week has found me home alone, having served breakfast and sent him off with a packed lunch and supper.  This morning's 7.46 caller asked what time he came in last night.  I couldn't answer.  Some nights I rouse for maybe five seconds to notice he's home. 

Yesterday brought a welcome mid-day meeting, so the Farmer hurried home in time to take a quick shower before the doorbell rang.  We welcomed two ladies (who know more about us than almost anyone in the world does) into our front sitting room (we never "entertain" there, but the carpets elsewhere had just been steam-cleaned). 

So, it was surreal, all the way around:  having the Farmer home mid-day, hosting visitors in the front sitting room, saying "good-bye" to our case worker who has walked this part of the journey with us, and meeting her replacement (it felt appropriate to say, "Welcome to the family!").  Answering questions about our home's safety (smoke & carbon monoxide alarms, no ponds or pools) and our planned methods of discipline was also surreal.   Knowing that, if we bring a baby home, this lady we just met is the one who would be visiting us monthly for six months and eventually the one making a recommendation to the judge about whether we are fit to adopt is hard to wrap one's mind around.

But we can't put life on hold and wait to see how it turns out.  There are fields to disc and chisel and fertilize.  There are hogs to sell, an ESL pupil to take to the library, a table to decorate for the church ladies' tea, bookwork to complete, a Sunday School lesson to prepare, and (assuming none of that wears us out and I successfully breathe in this weather) a much-anticipated dinner & Christmas concert to attend!