wet or dry, warm or white?

There have been plenty of opportunities to get and about without needing the full wet-weather gear, however, underfoot is a different matter entirely everywhere is sodden and rapidly turning into a quagmire. HB has two pairs of waterproof muck boots to use in rotation, I stick to heavy-duty walking boots and gaiters but I was looking at the gaiters as I took them down to put them on again and thinking they really need re-proofing but when am I going to get an opportunity to knock all the mud off, get them clean and dry and then wax them? At this rate not before the New Year.  AW's dogs can't even get out for a puddle without coming back clarted up and brown from head to tail (they're collies and Bill is - or is supposed to be - mostly white!) at least it doesn't show up so much on my black-coated tribe and the new fully paved dog yard is very much appreciated.
On Tuesday evening office dog Dido and I sat on the bench outside church, enjoying the peace and quiet, we listened to the owls (much canine head cocking involved) and picked out a few constellations (not many the church is flood lit) but the really odd thing was the weather-  it was ridiculously warm, an unzipped lightweight jacket over a mid-weight fleece was more than ample. And then news came in that every one of the 50 American states (yes, inducing Hawaii) had experienced temperatures below freezing.  This was closely followed by the incredible pictures of the snow storm across New York State, we like this one best! The US National Weather Service warned that the snow, generated by cold air blowing over the warmer Great Lakes, would continue and could eventually total 6 feet in places.  It's these unusual weather conditions that have created this freak-storm or so they say but round here tradition has it that what NY has we get two to three weeks later, so we're stocking up! Fingers crossed that large blocking low does its stuff and keeps it on the other side of 'the pond'.
Safe and warm in the CJS office the latest edition has gone to press, the main edition is quite small by our standards but we make up for it with the January calendar of professional events and courses and the latest CJS Focus (more of that on Monday).