Just how cold is it there?

That's what one of my cousins asked me today.... and my answer was "It's cold enough to make me want to pack everything up and move to Hawaii."   My cousin reminded me that no one would visit me in Hawaii. "As if they visit me here in Texas?" --- My family is not known for jumping on a plane to visit anyone who lives outside of New York.

Our temperatures have dropped into the Twilight Zone again.... freezing nights, cold days.... and every time I go into the backyard, I see the frozen azalea bushes, the shriveled-up roses, and the violets that look like cooked spinach.   When I think of all the spring and summer days when I was pulling up weeds and watering those flowerbeds, I could just scream. My gardening days are over.  When I pull up those frozen plants, I will replace them with garden ornaments..... anything that looks nice and doesn't need to be watered.

The stray cats--- the all-black one hasn't been around lately, and neither has the brown/beige cat. I guess they found someplace warm to hide and they're not coming out till the temperatures get closer to normal in the hills here.  However, the orange/white cat has been on our porch every night for the past week.  He meows his way up the stairs, meows by the back door, then he'll eat some of the dry food out there (of course I gave in and I've been leaving food for the strays).

The orange/white cat has also decided that his sleeping-spot of choice is the lounge chair on the side porch. He lays there and looks into the windows of the TV room, and our inside cat Sweet Pea sits on his cat-perch and looks out the window at the stray.  They stare at each other for hours..... the orange/white meows but Sweet Pea keeps silent.  When it got so cold the other night, I fixed up a warm cat-bed on the lounge chair, and the orange/white has claimed that also.  The lambs-wool fabric is much warmer than the padding on the lounge, so at least I know the poor cat won't freeze out there.  I don't know why he doesn't sleep in the barn, out of the wind. Or maybe he does, as the temperatures drop during the night.  So many nights of below freezing or near-freezing temperatures..... the weather gods have lost their minds.

I shouldn't complain.... Atlanta had snow this week, Savannah had ice and they were worried about all the beautiful old trees in that historic city.... and  the city of Houston closed schools and freeways when we had freezing rain earlier this week.  So I really should not complain about our cold weather..... but of course I will. I would much rather deal with the over-100 degrees of our summer days than muddle through a few cold days of stupid weather that drifts down here from up north.

One good thing about this cold weather---- I haven't heard the coyotes howling in the woods lately. At least that's something positive about the cold temperatures. (I'd still rather have warm weather.... and I'd rather be hearing the coyotes than hearing cold stray cats meowing on the back porch.)