Let the past sleep, but let it sleep in the sweet embrace of Christ, and let us go on into the invincible future with Him. (Oswalt Chambers)

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

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.

10 comments:

Judy said...

I'm hearing (and seeing!) the woodpeckers too!

And, smelling that awful skunk smell very early every morning.

But if it means spring is around the corner, I can put up with it.

Susan said...

You just keep that yucky snow right there! We don't want any more; we still have all kinds of it from our last blizzard. Hard to believe that next week is March already. Time flies when you are chasing a puppy around (not to rub it in or anything). What a difference from last February when I was wintered out completely and then got sick.

Kath said...

3 words for you ---
Come to Tucson (we can knit are the other 3 words!)

Kath

Anonymous said...

We got lots of rain out of that system and we still have snow on the ground!

I've seen more woodpeckers this week and our crocus decided they would pop up their heads. That's o.k. because they can handle the cold, but my beautiful peonies have started to peak through. What are they thinking!

Diane K

(Anonymous)

Dorothy said...

Brrrr! I feel a little guilty that we have been having the very warm weather her. The trees are blooming, the daffodils are up and I even saw a rhododendron in full bloom yesterday! Back to rain and gloom today, but our winter is probably over. The trouble with that is I need to think about yard work when I'd rather be in side knitting!

Alwen said...

Farther away from the lake got it worse than we did for once, but we still got plenty of that heavy wet stuff, oof!

Marcia said...

"Bring on the mud!"
Funny how even mud can begin to look good.

kathy b said...

Dare i? Dare i? Dare I tell you I am on a beach with sunscreen on right now? I'll be back to snow shortly!

Susan said...

Wow! We have some flurries in the forecast but it's not going to get that cold, so it probably won't stick.

Ever dream of moving south?

Lynne said...

I can't imagine living with snow! It looks so pretty in pictures, but the reality is often less than pretty (so I"m told).

Here, we are nearing the end of summer (a very humid one) and many people are looking forward to autumn but I don't like the cold. I wish it could be late spring all year!

never2hot2knit on Ravelry