A confusing first frost
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[I was confused by the frost on my windshield Monday. It obscured the windshield so I turned on the wipers.
The blades only whisked across the surface so I sprayed the wiper fluid on them. That worked for a few seconds before the fluid solidified and I had to spray again.
When I turned the corner the eastern sun blinded me and completely obscured my vision. I stopped the car, helpless.
Groggy, I couldn't figure out what was happening and used the wiper fluid all the way to the office.
Tuesday morning the last of the wiper fluid trickled onto the windshield. Then I remembered how to deal with the situation. The windshield needed scraped. But where in the world was the scraper? The rear floorboard.
Has it been that long since we've had to deal with ice on the windshield? February's ice storm was not that long ago. Neither was July's swelter. The cycle begins all over again.
On Sunday the temperature was still reasonable. My girlfriend, Vicky, and I were at Max Creek and time got away from us to the point we were walking back after dark, her with a handheld flashlight and me with my tiny one-bulb LED flashlight that is in the shape of a red frog. My experience is when I depend on a flashlight to get me out of the woods that is when the battery dies and my own frog light was more of a toy than a lantern.
We made it to the car without any problem, but at about 9 p.m. I noted a strong breeze blew the treetops. It was the arrival of the anticipated cold front.
My mom knew the cold was coming with the arrival of the ladybugs Sunday. The ladybugs lit on her doorway looking for entry into the warm house.
I used to use a heated room in the old hog barn as an office. I would crank the heat, sit back, read, write and listen to the radio. Once the heat got high enough the ladybugs would creep out of their winter crevices to crawl upon the ceiling. Periodically, they would drop into my hair and distract me as I read.
Those ladybugs are no doubt hunkered down in that office again, hoping for me to arrive and turn up the heat.
The freeze has probably spelled the end of the fall color season and the beginning of winter's spareness. Time to go dust off the parka and clean out the Mickey Mouse boots.