White stuff.

We had approximately 786 snowflakes here this afternoon. I happened to be getting my hair trimmed at the time, and nearly all the hair-cutters in the salon went outside with either their camera or their phone to take pictures. I tried very hard not to smile; tried even harder not to laugh. But I guess if you've never seen snow before, 786 flakes of white stuff falling from the Texas sky is a big deal.

Houston had more snow than we did up here in the hills..... maybe 2,349 snowflakes. Judging by the video-clips on the evening news, an army of Barbie-doll-sized snowmen were built by children all over the city. Schools closed early (even the universities), and businesses were shut down in an effort to get everyone home before the roads iced up. I'm sure the retailers were dusting off their cash registers, in hopes that the cold weather would make everyone rush out to get some Christmas shopping done.

The weather wizards predicted a lot more snow than what we got, and they were posting weather bulletins and severe weather alerts all day long. When you have lived up north for 40 years, you learn that the more snow that's expected, the less you get. The eight-foot drifts with the zillions and zillions of uncountable snowflakes come when the weathermen tell you that a "light dusting of snow" is on its way. I remember a light dusting during the month of April a bunch of years ago when I was working at the library-- we had eleven-foot drifts of snow, with roads totally impassable which shut down most of NYC and the surrounding counties.

Along with today's snowflakes, the temperatures dropped about thirty degrees. It was so cold outside this afternoon that I let Gatsby in the house for a while, to eat his meals, and to just come in out of the weather. (He wasn't impressed with the white stuff either.)

Gatsby seems to do just fine in the house. He quickly learned that the TV room is the preferred room for cats in this house, and he goes there as soon as I let him in the back door. I let him in the front door the other day and he walked through the living room and dining room, looked at the sparkling and glittering Christmas decorations and just kept walking towards the TV room. (Good cat.) After he eats his food, he will curl up near Gracie, or lay down by the heater-vent in the floor. (Smart cat.) Tonight, he jumped up into my husband's lap and stayed there for about an hour. (Very smart cat.)

If I'm sitting down on the sofa or in one of the chairs, Gatsby will jump into my lap and curl up and just lay there for as long as I'm sitting still. (Content cat.) The other night, he sat in my lap and faced himself towards the TV and he watched an entire episode of "House Hunters" with me. They were in Paris, and Gatsby was totally absorbed with the Paris traffic and the apartments. (International cat.)

No matter what the temperature, I can't keep Gatsby in the TV room at night with our two inside cats. ShadowBaby seems to be okay with Gatsby (as long as Gatsby doesn't touch his food), but Mickey Kitty is having bouts of "But I thought I was the baby-kitty around here?!" When I let Gatsby inside this afternoon, Mickey Kitty took one look at him, left the room, and I found him upstairs in our bedroom with his head underneath the afghan at the foot of the bed. (Sensitive cat.)

In our garage, I have fixed a comfortable home-away-from-the-inside-of-the-house for Gatsby. He has a warm and comfy pillow inside a blanket-draped cat crate, which is on one of the work counters, and the door is propped open a bit so he can come and go as he wants. I also put one of the lawn chairs in the garage for him, also with a warm cat-bed pillow on it. If he doesn't want to be in the crate, he can curl up in the chair. His food and water dishes are in there for him, and he should be okay. Maybe not as warm as he would be in the house, but he'll be fine.

The chickens are in the coop, without benefit of soft cushy pillows, and they weigh much less than Gatsby, and they seem to be okay with the drop in temperature. Not exactly happy, but okay. The hens were quiet again today..... they're taking advantage of the umbrellas covering their grassy spot in front of the coop, but without the other hens, these remaining three are just clucking along at a slower pace. Clearly, Dolly and Jaye-Bird were the party girls of that coop.

I'm hoping it gets warm again. The weathermen are promising 60-degree temperatures by the beginning of next week. With all the sophisticated equipment they have, you would think they would never make a mistake with their predictions.