February Reminds Us It's Still Winter

Sunday morning at church everyone was talking about the big snowfall expected that evening. Always optimistic about these predictions (why?), I hoped it wouldn't be more than a few inches since I had an early Monday morning appointment for a tooth extraction twenty miles away.

Sunday evening I checked National Weather Service. They said three inches overnight. No problem. Three inches doesn't even require any shoveling to get out.

Monday morning I was up before the sun. In the dark it was easy to imagine there was only three inches. Maybe four. I got ready to go.

Then, the sun came up and it was time to take the dogs out for a walk. Except the dogs didn't want to walk far. It was eight inches of the heaviest snow possible. Some of it downright slushy. If this snow had been fluffier, it would have been three feet deep. At least.

Time to face reality. The road wasn't plowed, not that I thought I could get out of the driveway. The wet snow was still splatting down thick and heavy. I turned on the radio for AccuWeather to hear it was going to keep snowing all morning. The morning host didn't have to worry about what to talk about, she was kept busy reading school closings.

As soon as the dentist's office opened, I called and rescheduled my appointment. Jeniffer, the desk woman, told me I wouldn't be charged for the late cancellation. I thought that was especially nice of her since she obviously got up early, did some shoveling, and got to work on time.



Late in the morning the snowplow cleared the road. About noon, the snowplow fairy plowed the driveway. Snowplows can't get right up next to buildings and cars. There was still shoveling that needed to be done before we'd be able to get out.

3:40 each afternoon WKZO, a Kalamazoo radio station, has a live interview with Bob Larson from AccuWeather. Bob starts by summing up the five day forecast with the "weather word of the day". Yesterday the word was "clean up". He explained that we needed to dig out while the snow was heavy and slushy because the wet snow was going to turn into hard ice as temperatures dropped for the rest of the week.

That explains why I was unable to stay inside and fantasize the snow melting. I knew I needed to shovel us out for Bob's medical appointment on Wednesday before the deep freeze.

The minimum shoveling required to get us out of the driveway is done. I'm stiff but not in pain thanks to extra strength Tylenol. Let it freeze. Next week is March, the woodpeckers are drumming for mates, there may even be short daffodil shoots under the snow. Winter is almost over. Bring on the mud.