I was starting to think we could have the Olympics here in the neo-arctic region of Virginia.
I can’t remember when I last saw so much frost and snow staying on the ground for so long — not melting at all, but just heaped on the roadsides by plows and just sitting around in lumps that get frozen solid from day after day of temperatures nowhere near the freezing point.
But… we are now enjoying “warmer” temperatures the past few days. A very slow thaw has begun. The snow rocks are receding and getting slushy during the day, which means they absorb more of oil-and-gas wastage left by passing cars. I remember this from my days growing up in Pittsburgh (which gets its winter weather off Lake Erie, and therefore has a lot more snow).
So we can’t have Winter Olympics here. The is one “sport” that is starting up again (we hope): old-man-JJ’s-“three-legged”-walks around the neighborhood. It’s not really a spectator sport, however.
Anyway, it’s warmer than Ukraine, where civilian infrastructure continues to get bombed by the Russians even as the Putin regime and the U.S. regime pretend to be working on a “peace deal.” Millions of Ukrainians have no heat, and it’s not getting warmer for them.
It’s also cold in Minnesota, and the snow has been mixed with blood. The regime and its undocumented-immigrant-hunting National Police fail to convince or inspire respect (to say the least). It’s sorrowful and deplorable. The United States and the whole world are changing. Hearts are growing colder.
On the other hand, things may suddenly get very hot in the Persian Gulf, where U.S. warships are part of a “gunboat diplomacy” ploy that was supposed to be about the victims of recent Iranian protests but now seems to be about Iran’s nuclear program (the one that we were told was “liquidated” by last June’s bombing raids). Ever since we said “Happy New Year” the U.S. military has been active from Venezuela to (at least through verbal jostling) Greenland to Iran. So far it’s just incompetent and dangerous political actors with their threats, bluffs, and grandiose posturing.
I would prefer not to write about these things, but they weigh upon me, my compatriots, and people all the over the world. We have no idea what terrors, what madness might be unleashed by the war our foolish leaders are rushing toward, the war we are all calling down on our heads by our sins.
Lord, have mercy on us, spare us from the horrors of war, convert our hearts to you. Have mercy on us!
