Last year’s weather is now this year’s weather. Last year the temperature and wind and snow conditions varied, and it’s looking like this year is going to be much the same, meaning it gets warm, it rains, it gets cold, it gets icy. There was very little snow last year, and it’s appearing as though there is going to be very little snow this year.

This morning I got up, and prepared to go outside, so as to take care of the animals. I stepped outside and looked at the porch steps. They were wet. I walked down the porch steps. It was drizzling.

I turned to my left and went out the gate. The ground underfoot was slippery. As I have done so many times before, I saw that it was icy and so stepped to the side of the driveway where the snow was a bit deeper; hence, I discovered that there was considerably more stability.

I went down the hill and entered the horse enclosure. The horse enclosure was firm underfoot because there was so little ice or snow.

I fed them and picked up the manure, put it in the sled. I did not drag the sled up behind the hoop house because I didn’t want to deal with slippage. Instead, I went back into the house and gave Pete the morning weather report. Pete, who knows all, had turned on the weather radio when I was outside, and so he already had some familiarity with the weather conditions.

We ate breakfast and then prepared to go to town. I left my car at the hotel last night, so I took a ride in with him this morning. Before leaving the house, he, upon my request, located a pair of grippers for my boots.

This made all the difference in the world.

I could have written this dispatch last year, at this time because the weather a year ago was much the same.

There does seem to be a pattern to climate change. It’s now overall warmer and more icy. And there is far less snow.

We had Josh put ice shoes on the horses a few weeks ago. This was a wise decision. We’d postponed doing this eight weeks previously. We were then playing with fire because the weather we are having now could have been the weather that we would have had then.

So what’s ahead? I think more of the same. I suspect that some who don’t have their act together are hoping that it does not snow because they, who are not prepared for such things, will be woefully unprepared.

I looked at the weather forecast. More of the same is predicted for tomorrow.

Next: 324. 12/3/25: Dog Noises