The Big Fake-Out

It's starting to thaw here in Minnesota. All the ice fishing shacks in the southern 1/3 of the state are gone, the northern 2/3 have another week or so to get them gone. I'm starting to see signs of my driveway under the pack ice. The potholes are forming in the streets and the sidewalks are sheets of ice thanks to all the melting snow. The sun is shining, and it's supposed to get up around 40˚ or so the next few days. (For all you Celsius-users out there, that's about 4.5˚c)

I may just open a window or two this afternoon. Seriously.

The stores are setting up all their lawn mowers and lawn fertilizer. People are venturing out in nothing more than heavy sweaters or hoodies, electing to leave their heavy winter coats hanging in the closet or draped over the chair by the door. It sure seems like spring is on its way, but I'm not falling for it. Oh no, I've been suckered by the big fake-out before and I've learned my lesson.

Just about the time I start thinking about tuning up FrankenMower© and trying to squeeze one more season out of it, the illusion of spring will cruelly be yanked away.

Oh sure, I'm enjoying not having to dress up like I'm on an arctic expedition when I'm going to the store that is 3 blocks away, but I know that as long as the temps keep dropping at night we're still in danger of winter kicking our butts at least one more time before it heads out. It's happened before and it will happen again. Just when we start thinking it's really over, WHAM!  Have another foot of snow! Canada will decide to shove one more polar air mass our way and it will hang out for a week or more. (Thanks Canada. You shouldn't have, no really.)

Weather here does that all the time. Last year, we didn't really have a "spring," summer started early and it seemed like we were in for a long, hot one. (Get your minds out of the gutter.) Then it got "unseasonably mild" – meaning it barely got into the 90s and we were lucky if it got in the 80s for most of it. Then winter showed up – IN OCTOBER. Bitter cold and snow showed up and it looked like we were in for a long, brutal winter. Wrong! It warmed up and again became "unseasonably mild" until just before Christmas. It didn't actually get COLD again until sometime in January.

I'll be enjoying the big thaw, but you know I won't pack away my snow shovel anytime soon. Winter hasn't had long to play here and I know it's not giving up just yet.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to break up some of the glacier that is my driveway. If I remember correctly, there's asphalt under there.