Another day, another special weather statement.
Yes, we are in the thick of Winter.
Short, grey days.
Long, cold nights.
Wind chills. Polar vortexes.
Colorado and Texas Lows, or Alberta Clippers.
Long johns. Thick socks. Hats, gloves, scarves. Big winter coats. Frozen car batteries.
It is inconvenient at best.
It is deadly at its worst.
As we all know, the cold can kill.
For wildlife such as deer and wild turkeys, the lack of food can mean slow starvation.
For coyotes and wolves, the deep snow can be a challenge to find food.
Non-deciduous plants have called it quits.
Withered away to their own ground zero.
Most of the insects have died off.
In fact this year I hear the polar vortexes have decimated the ash borer and pine beetles.
That’s good news for the trees.
The robins and other snow birds had the good sense to get out while the getting was good.
The brave chickadees, cardinals and other birds who stick around, are quieted while Winter does its thing.
Until the earth turns.
But while the months of darkness and cold grip us, new life is patiently waiting.
Out with the old, in a sense, and in with the new.
The cold is a blessing, in a way.
It could be thought of as Mother Nature pressing her reset button.
A refreshing new start come Spring.
Plants and animals who make it through the Winter emerge refreshed and ready to begin anew.
Plants which survive being killed off by the cold, bloom hardier and healthier.
Animals which endure the deep snow are overjoyed at the new plants and food come Spring.
Birds who spend the season here come out of hiding and are happy to have at the new seeds.
Birds who spend the Winter in warmer climes are anxious to return to the worms and insects that have emerged.
Elsewhere in the world where there is no Winter, earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires, and floods are all ways Mother Nature is pressing her reset button.
The devastation left behind from those natural disasters forces communities to come together and rebuild, from groud zero.
Anything which survives her periodic shakeups emerges stronger, healthier, and better for the species as a whole.
So while we are in the midst of another reset button being pressed this Winter, Spring is just around the corner, ready for us to emerge stronger, healthier, to take on the new season.