Endurance exam

As I write this I hear sleet falling on the skylights above my bed. Since it grew dark, a good 3-4" of snow fell and needed to be shoveled by the back door, as I didn't want it frozen shut in the morning. By morning it may well have all turned to rain and when I return home tomorrow afternoon it's forecasted that the temperatures may reach the mid-40's! This is why March into April is known as Mud Season in New England, and boy will there be lots of melting snow to add floods to the mud.

The weather has beat me down. Usually I'd walk in the woods daily for a restorative outing with my dog. A nice way to shift gears between work and dinner or to sort out issues that my be squirrel caging in my mind. Usually I would have gone xc-skiing in the woods by now, but this year the few good days I've had to ski, have been days spent on the roof shoveling.

On one hand this has been a historic winter, and on the other hand, it was the winter that wasn't. The temperatures have been so cold that there has been real danger of getting frostbite more days than not. Sledding didn't happen, as either the house couldn't be left or the roads traversed or some combination of the two.

My feet are tired of being in thick socks and shoes. My toes long for air, earth and water. Everyone, everywhere, is admitting to being driving to distraction by the weather. It's truly conquered even the hardiest of souls this season. My students who are snowboarders, with Mt. Wachusett in their back yard, didn't fly down the mountain over February break. Too cold. Snow too deep  and powdery for their skis. Bizarre.

Now we're all becoming prognosticators of the big melt. People are talking about renting snowblowers to move snow away from their houses before a prolonged thaw. Because if the mountains of snow from the roofs starts to melt too close to the houses it will flood the basements, garages and, in some cases, ground floors.

Baseball tryouts are supposed to begin in a few weeks. There will be no ballfields cleared for the kids to use. Animals are starting to scurry, walk and trot over the human packed down trails, paths, sidewalks and streets, as it's too deep for them move quickly in the woods.

I'm going to have to shovel the piles away from the back of my house, where the banks are still above my ground floor windows. My house is on a hill and the back yard is well above the front. When it starts to melt, gravity will take the water into my basement and garage. The house wrens nesting in my garage might like it as a bird bath, but I'm not to keen on the prospect.

They say this current system of snow, sleet and rain is going to swirl around us for the next two days. After that we may have a few days in the 30's which feels like sun bathing weather to those of us now accustomed to shoveling, walking and hiking in -10+- for almost two months.

So to the sounds of sleet on my skylights, with an occasional bass beat of rain, I bid you all a fair night and no flooding.

Good night, seasonal emotional endurance friends, G'night!