The Big Freeze

Winter has arrived.

Here was Warren Lake on Saturday, at 60 degrees, in a t-shirt and shorts.

and then Wednesday, ten degrees, with ice forming on the lake.

Yak Trax and all.

Today is bright and sunny but the temperature hasn't made it above 5 degrees yet.

I woke up with a sore throat and sniffles. That really sucks, I don't feel too bad but I didn't sleep well last night and my throat hurt then, too. I need some down time. I rarely get sick. I don't know where I picked this up except maybe in the pool the other day, there were a gazillion high school kids at their swim practice right before I got in the pool. One of the downsides of swimming in a public pool, I guess. I did swim 1800 meters on Tuesday though, which is my longest swim in about twenty-five years.

The fact that I've been sick twice in 3 weeks tells me that the work stress hangover is the gift that keeps on giving. I do feel better in general but I am sure my immune system was not happy for a while. I should be bouncing back soon.

Also I've been hitting it pretty hard with the workouts lately, after slacking off for 7 months, so that could be a shock to my body. The timing was good, for getting sick at least, this was going to be a short easy week of running anyway. Maybe I'll get more work done.

Santa is being very kind to us this year, and he is sending his elves early, too. The elves are bringing us a hot tub next week, to replace the old decrepit model that came with the house and recently died. The elves will install the new hot tub and cart the old one off.

This one is smaller than our old monster hot tub, and the model of the new hot tub happens to be called "Iris". Iris was happy about that, plus the fact that this new tub is lower to the ground, so she'll be able to keep a closer eye on us without having to climb the stairs and jump up on the edge. For now she's content to fall asleep in her dad's arms...

Isabelle loves sitting outside in the snow. It can be 5 below zero and she'll sit out there and enjoy the cold air.

I've been making tons of soup, batch number three is cooking right now. First it was turkey green chile, then I made turkey tortilla soup, the latest one is turkey kale-leek-mushroom soup, with leftover mashed potatoes thrown in. We had a ton of mashed potatoes left over from Thanksgiving. Turkey parts are inexpensive at Sprouts right now, they must have cut up all their extra holiday turkeys and are trying to get rid of them.

Not much else to report. I'm hoping I can shake this crud quickly by staying home, getting plenty of sleep and hydrating myself with soup. Somehow it's not so bad being sick when the temperatures are in the single digits outside. When the sun is shining like this, it doesn't feel bad outside at all, if you're covered. I wish I felt better because it's nice running weather out there.

But I have plenty to do to keep me busy at home. And if I feel like I need to get warm, I can always go in the fridge.