Life in the Slow Lane

This is a fox. We've never seen one before today. Is this the classic case of winter lasting long enough that wild animals come into residential neighborhoods looking for food?

SOS and I were reflecting about how snow is no longer an event. Back in our BW days (Before Winter), white flakes falling from the sky (no matter how few) were something to stop and take note of. Not so much anymore. Today I called the kids to look at the snow falling. They barely even looked up. A little hard to see, but that's a snow tunnel from some burrowing animal.

It’s snowing again.  And the water is still dripping off the eaves as the last serving of snow melts.  Borderline, folks. We’re right on the border.

Fresh snow is pretty, even one hundred three days into winter.

A snow storm is expected tonight. That makes today laundry day. Because doing laundry with three small children is hard enough without needing to trek through the snow to get to the laundry room. As I walk back and forth, I say good-bye to the grass. It isn't quite as hard to do this time around because I trust that warmer temperatures will be back again soon.

Today is not nearly as glorious as yesterday was, but still it feels simply wonderful. The only snow left on the ground is where snow has been piled up or deep in shaded areas. With the warmer temperatures and snow-free ground, I begin to think "Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" Maybe that's how people manage to live here year after year. Just like a woman manages to forget the pain of childbirth enough to have more kids, people forget the pain of sub-freezing winters.

Friends, today was THE DAY. Remember how "THE DAY" is the first fluke-warm day of the year? It feels so comparatively warm that everyone goes out in shorts and enjoys the sunny day. Friends, it got all the way up to 53 degrees!!!!!!! !! There was no way we were sitting inside for this one. I started the day with a bike ride. Yes, it was still in the 30s at that point, but I saw more people wearing shorts than wearing long pants. Then we went to the park. If you scratched the bark aside, you still hit ice before dirt, but people... SUN! Warmth! Then SOS had to go to a meeting, but the kids and I took a picnic to the zoo. Friends, the zoo was a zoo . It was packed. The parking lots were full and there was no street parking anywhere near the place. It took us half an hour to find parking. CutieLittleBoy kept complaining about how hot it was... even though he had soaked his shoe stepping onto (and through) thin ice. After the zoo, we returned to pick up SOS an...