"I know I look a fright, 2"

The room at home that I hang out in is a pig pen. A shambles. I haven't returned phone calls. I haven't posted here on my blog. I was a Grinch through the holidays. My laundry is on the floor. I've watched a hundred old movies on TV. My dog Jaker has been hanging out with me. He likes this current lifestyle. We can learn about my life from the lyrics to the song "countin flowers on the wall". I make no excuse or apology for this laziness. But I feel a bit guilty about just hanging out in my room. And it's bad for one's health to lay around and watch TV. Sometimes I get a headache from doing that. It can be cured by simply walking a half mile. The temperatures all through December and now in January have been 15 degrees below average here on Delmarva, so it's not fun outside. I should probably get a treadmill. I hate exercise and exercise equipment. It's a bit too early to think about spring. Groundhog day is three weeks away. Then I can think about spring. I have closed off two rooms on the first floor of the house to save on heating costs. I have put plastic and straw against the north wall. My wife has a heating element in the bird bath. She feeds the wild birds every day. Our two barn cats are thriving and finding warm spots to sleep. The horse and the goat are turned out every day and safe in their stalls at night. Our four dogs live in the house with us. Hence we have no nice furniture or carpets. My dog Jaker is here with me as I type. My son is here visiting from California so wife and I are not an empty nest. His visit will be way too short for us. We come alive when he is here, as all you parents know. I am glad the holidays are over. I think the reasons I don't really like Christmas are: 1. I no longer believe in the spiritual part of Christmas. (don't get me wrong--I strongly believe in good will toward men and peace on earth) 2. I don't like the commercial gift exchange. Gifts with a deadline. I have a Christmas tree and it's still "up" because it's a lighted outdoor blue spruce. It's got those old kind of big light bulbs on it. Had no indoor tree this year. After Christmas I bought a very nice artificial tree that has lights built in and is pretty high end. It retailed for well north of $300. But after Christmas it was 75% off, and I had a coupon for another 10%. It's still in the box, and still in the back of the Jeep. So I'm looking forward to having a nice tree next year. That's if I have enough Christmas spirit to set it up. Happy half way to half way through the winter, groundhog fans.