Winter

Back during the summer, when temperatures were running 20 degrees above normal for, like 6 months, I began looking ahead to a warm winter. I checked the average temperatures for January and calculated that while there might be an occasional evening when I'd want a light jacket to ward off the chill, I'd pretty much spend the winter in shirtsleeves, planting bananas, mangoes, and palms in my garden.

This has not happened. I think we've had about 7 nights below 20, including last Monday when it was 14. I walked outside the other day and the ground was frozen! I felt like I was living in Siberia or Indiana or somewhere like that. It snowed twice last week--only an inch both times--but the snow was pretty on the nandina berries.

I spent the snowy and frigid weekend painting our bedroom and replacing all the electrical outlets. That's the one home repair that I actually know how to do, and it sounds impressive, at least to the three people in the world who know less about fixing stuff than me. All you have to do is turn off the power before you start, and remember that the black wire is the hot wire...or is it the white one?

Hey Teresa, would you plug something into that outlet for me and see if it works?