New Year, Same Old, 4&5. Frigid is the Word

Yesterday, I had problems with my wifi internet. Neither of the two routers worked on the computers, yet they went just fine on the phones. This morning, both worked well until I just sat down to write. It's taken forever to pull up this page, and I wonder just when I can finish it.

My intention had been to go to Boiro this month, when the year-long contract on one of them ends, and change to fiber. Telefónica passed its fiber cable along our road a couple of years ago, and now it seems it provides service. Other companies rent out the cable, and I've been told I can now contract internet by cable. But the office where I went to ask is in Boiro; there is no telecom office of any kind in Rianxo. So, now I have to wait for both townships to open. I fear I might spend a few weeks without internet of any kind.

Perhaps the problem is due to the freezing temperatures we've been having these past nights. This morning, when my husband got up, he lit the fire in the wood stove in the kitchen, and then outside in the lareira we have in the barn, so the barn cats could cuddle up and thaw out. When I got up, an hour later, the phone gave me two conflicting temperatures. It was either 29ºF/-1.5ºC or 32.3ºF/0.2ºC. It didn't matter much, it was cold! Everything outside was bathed in white frost, even the tile roofs. My car, which slept outside, was covered in a frosty rime on the side next to the road. Ice crunched underneath my shoes when I ventured outside for more firewood. 

Showers come intermittently from the north, though they have been lessening over the days. Yesterday, snowflakes tumbled down in the hills above us, but only cold rain reached us. There is a possibility of snow toward the end of the week, and the weather is supposed to remain cold. The Spanish meteorological service, AEMET, says a storm might move inland from the Mediterranean. If it reaches far enough northwest, with the wind channeling from the Arctic, we might get snowflakes closer down to sea level. I hope so, to compensate for this cold.  

Tomorrow is Epiphany, when the Wise Men, or the Three Kings, as they are known here, bring presents for the children. There won't be a parade in town this year. Instead, the floats are going to go through many of the different villages of the township, so people can see them from their doorsteps, and there are no crowds. We three Kings of Orient are/Bearing gifts, we travel afar, like the carol says. There's been mention of maybe it being four Kings, but in the end, the fourth is staying in Abu Dhabi, not even traveling home on his birthday. A photo of the ex-King Juan Carlos surfaced the other day, being helped off a yacht in the Emirates. He had a body guard on each side, both holding him tightly to help him walk. Knowing his habits, it says one of two things. Either he has more problems with his mobility (he's been using a cane, lately), or he was having more than a good time aboard the yacht. Juan Carlos is not know to be a teetotaler. Take your pick, according to your charitable (or not) views toward him.

Today I am making a nice, hot fabada, a bean stew. I also have some cream of mushroom soup left over from last night. It's one of those days when you wonder how on earth you were able to eat ice cream a few months ago. Cold begets cold!

Life continues.

 

This morning, the fields behind my house.