This morning, the weather is so bad that I didn’t open the little chicken doors. The wind is blowing the snow sideways, exactly the sort of wet draft that is dangerous for hens.

Candy is the only one who doesn’t mind. Still, I gave her fresh hay and I’m sure that after she finishes her hop-around, that she’ll snuggle in.

Today is a good day to clean house, but I don’t mean dusting. My boys have been growing like the proverbial weeds. Sometimes I think it’d be easier to leave money at the shoe store and not bother to bring the shoes home, being as how in a couple of weeks we’re back for the next size up. Packing for our vacation, I discovered that my youngest had outgrown all but three T-shirts. (He now has a collection of tourist shop tees emblazoned with Puerto Rico.) So, the too-small clothes will be put into bags and taken to the Goodwill drop-off truck.

A jumble of stuff on shelves does more than clutter your kitchen, it also clutters your brain. I’ve tried to avoid that by putting all of those “maybe I’ll need it one day” items on a shelf in the basement. But, it turns out, that my brain is still cluttered. I blame this.

So, if I haven’t used an item for three years, it’s going off to this wonderful organization.

This is also the sort of day, and the time of year, when I should tidy up my bookkeeping. In all honesty, I don’t think I’ll get to it. I’d rather sit in front of the fire with one of my Hanukkah gifts, The Hedgehog’s Dilemma.