Winter weary

There's less than a week left of February. On March 1 we start meteorological Spring. I'm concerned that the weather gods may not be aware of that. On Thursday, February 27, the high is forecast to be in the negative single digits. Our normal average is 33. The next day, Friday, February 28, our high is supposed to reach the positive single digits. Our average high for the 28th is 34. Could this be March coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb? If we have many more winters where the rest of the earth continues to have above average temperatures, and the Midwest and East and Southern US have weather like we've had, might that not become a competitive disadvantage? Much as I care for Minnesota, if I knew every winter was going to be like this one, I'd start to look for somewhere warmer to make a home. Living here would be even worse if I lived in the city and parked on the street.

red osier dogwood (2013)    © harrington

It was about this time last year that we collected some red osier dogwood. There's going to have to be a lot of melting before we can think about that this year. With luck, we'll soon have a nice snow melt and sap run and be able to put February and this Winter behind us.

February

By Bill Christophersen 

The cold grows colder, even as the days

grow longer, February's mercury vapor light

buffing but not defrosting the bone-white

ground, crusty and treacherous underfoot.

This is the time of year that's apt to put

a hammerlock on a healthy appetite,

old anxieties back into the night,

insomnia and nightmares into play;

when things in need of doing go undone

and things that can't be undone come to call,

muttering recriminations at the door,

and buried ambitions rise up through the floor

and pin your wriggling shoulders to the wall;

and hope's a reptile waiting for the sun.

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