6 January: Why?

The weather has been so frigid these past six or seven mornings that I have despaired of leaving my cave. I lie awake tightly ineffectively curled up for warmth, and pull the covers back over my head. I can’t imagine Thoreau traipsing down to Walden for his bath at this time of year—of course, Walden was frozen and so I suspect he took the winter off. And I walk with my hot coffee out here to Walden hoping for some physical relief from the frigidity. Alas, this seems months away right now. Today we begin at -6 degrees, which is a dramatic improvement over last Saturday morning’s beginning at -14 degrees. Again, I find Nature’s assault brutal—attributing to Nature a consciousness that it does not have. It just is. I wish the house were warmer, and my bed firmer, and I with thicker blood.

First posting of the new year.

And the news is all bad: an attempted plane bombing, more dead in Iraq, and two Democratic senators announcing they will not run again. I see the Republican leadership licking their wolf chops.