The good news is, we don’t live on the East Coast where they are experiencing blizzards and record snow accumulations. Some spots are now measuring snow in feet not inches.

The bad news is here in the Deep South we are at least 20 degrees below normal temps and are having to balance a very narrow line of wintry weather dumping snow, freezing rain and sleet above us and below us.

My sister in Memphis had seven inches of snow. I have a saturated yard and more mud than I would like to see any time of the year.

Thank goodness February is the shortest month of the year.

So on to more pressing matters. I think Dear Don has gone stark raving mad and it all has to do with CHEESE of all things.

Weeks ago he took a shine to cheese toast, white bread topped with shredded cheddar and toasted in the oven, for breakfast. So far so good huh?

I was at the time buying an eight ounce bag of shredded cheese. Soon I discovered that eight ounces were not lasting the week in between shopping trips. So I bought two,  eight ounce bags or one pound of cheese.

Days later the two, eight ounce bags were gone before the week was out. So I bought a two-pound bag thinking now, I’ve got it licked.

My way of thinking was skewed, I guess, and I didn’t see it coming but the more cheese I bought the more cheese Dear Don ate. At this point he is now eating three pieces of toast for breakfast and two pieces after dinner at night. Plus while waiting on the toast to cook he eats straight out of the bag. No kidding.

So stupid, naïve me bought a five-pound bag of shredded cheese. But it came with a warning. He would have to make it last at least three weeks. We are now one week into the challenge and the bag is half empty or half full as cheese man sees it. I nonchalantly ask from time to time “Do you think your cheese stash is going to last another two weeks?”

“No problem,” he assures me.

I wouldn’t put it past him to sneak out and buy more and add it to the bag just to win the challenge. He is very competitive.

Another problem comes from eating so much cheese…No, not THAT problem, his plumbing seems to be working fine. But there are small bits of shredded cheese everywhere. It melts all over the toaster oven each morning. It is on the cabinet and the floor. It has fallen down the heat register near the cabinets. There is a trail nearly every day from the kitchen to his recliner where if you wanted (and I don’t) you could gather enough stray cheese to make several days of cheese toast. He never cleans up after himself and uses the excuse of “I didn’t see it because I didn’t have on my glasses” to poopoo all my fussing about cheese everywhere.

I have tried making him feel badly about eating so much cheese but nothing I say can penetrate that shield of denial he wears so well. So I think in retrospect, I will hope that Mother Nature takes its course and he will soon tire of this obsession. If not I will let you know because you may want to stock up before there is none available in Panola County.

You get the picture.

(Contact Sherry at swhcsc@wildblue.net)