Sunday, March 27, 2011

are we there yet?

Last week's 5" or so of snow on Monday (or Tuesday or whenever) made for the worst road conditions between St. Paul and Brooklyn Park that I've had to navigate for the whole winter driving season. And that's saying something, given the winter we've had.

The worst part of that latest blast and the follow-up big chill wasn't the way it forced the interstate system back to oxcart conditions. It was the way that it's delayed the arrival of spring. Yeah, sure, we've gone past March 21st which qualifies us as having survived the winter but winter clings in a number of annoying ways. After finally finishing carving out a path to our snow-bound gas grill last weekend, we were actually able to fire that bad boy up and broil up some chicken thighs. Those gains got wiped out by the 6" (did I say 5" earlier?) of hard crusty rain/snow mix that again marooned the poor grill out on the far corner of the deck. It took all week to clear a new passage. Hopefully, that'll be the last time.

A friend across the street nearly sent Miz Susan into full clinical seasonal affective depression this afternoon by asking us if we'd heard about the 12" we were going to get rocked with this coming Tuesday. The friend freely admitted to an afternoon of beer-drinking but stood by the prediction. This drove Susan back into the house, shouting over her shoulder as she went, "C'mon!! We've gotta watch the Weather Channel!! What's that station number again?!?" I'm hoping this turns out to be a false alarm but I wouldn't be surprised by anything.

As little as two or three weeks ago I'd have sworn that the snow banks out on the boulevard we're starting to quiver and give off an eerie blue glow from their depths. I pictured them heating up from the pressue of all that weight and reaching the critical mass necessary to transform them into living, flowing glaciers. I imagined waking up one morning and finding that our house had been scooped up in a new Ice Age migration and that we'd have to re-register to vote as residents of Owatonna.

I'm willing to admit in my more lucid moments that that's not all that likely and that spring is going to have sprung soon. Certainly by Easter which we're counting on since Susan again signed us up to host the annual ham feed. Won't that girl ever learn? And the stakes are even higher for us now. I don't know if I can handle an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids and and an Easter Beer Hunt for the alleged grown ups if I have to go out in advance and hide the booty in various snowdrifts.

So what if it snowed 7" (what's with this namby-pamby 5 or 6"?) within the last week? The Twins are about to break camp and head north, even if it's only to Atlanta. I caught the 9th inning in today's win over the Yankees (boooooo, hisssssssss) and John Gordon told me that the Twinkles have now won 5 in a row in Grapefruit League action and have moved to 18-11 for the preseason. Opening Day's a week away. Spring's gotta be coming soon. Bring it on; let's play ball.