In the South, Winter Ends Abruptly

What a difference a few days make. It was 19 degrees (F) and snowy three days ago and today we were into the shorts zone (for Seattleites this seems to occur when you cross the 58 degree mark). I guess the difference between March snow at 37 degrees latitude and March snow at 47 degrees latitude is that here, we're having spring this weekend and up north they're relegated to 4 more months of winter. Bummer dude. While it all sounds good now, I'm sure I'll be bitching in mid-July when I'm near withering and on the coast of Maine it's a pleasant 78 and breezy!

Anyway, the Salty One and I took the opportunity to watch the sunset and chase some pine cones in the water (I didn't find the ball in the car until my second look). Once the ball was found, she engaged in some very good sand-ball wrangling/pouncing. I'm pretty sure she liked the sunset too.

And, spring may have officially sprung--I just walked out on the deck and heard some Spring Peepers (Pseudacris crucifer) filling the nighttime stillness with their sweet chirps.

Photo: USGS, http://cars.er.usgs.gov/herps/Frogs_and_Toads/P_crucifer/p_crucifer.htm

Cephalopod antics

I couldn't resist posting this video link I got from a friend. Truly amusing and clever!



According to a Video Chump I know, this was up for an Academy Award for animated short.

Snow Day

It's been a while since I've had an honest-to-goodness snow day. Yeah, it snowed on the Olympic Peninsula and in Seattle, but rarely would I get a snow day out of it. Typically, my employer would let those who anticipated having a hard time getting home leave work, but we were told we could make up the time on our weekends or in the evening or we could work from home--not exactly the liberating, "Get Out of Jail Free" snow days of my New England youth! But as luck would have it, all the hullabaloo and stocking up of batteries, water, and toilet paper by the locals was finally not for naught.


After listening to various forms of wintry mix strike the windows for the better part of the evening, the lights flickered a few times, an exploding transformer lit up the night sky, and that was that--we were cold and in the dark with enough conflicting scents from all the candles I've squirreled away over the years to make us nauseous. Once the power kicked on in the wee hours of the morning, I fired up my laptop with bleary eyes and read that school was closed! Wooohooo! Better yet, I dodged an exam! How great is that? Okay, I still have to take it, but 4 more days to prepare is a pretty nice snow day bonus! I tried to have a lazy morning, but my furry companion (who did a great job keeping me warm during our 6.5 hours without power) was anxious to get the party started.

Dogs are fantastic fun in the snow! Ours is no exception--she loves it and went on a tear the second I let her out the door. I especially like they way she'll leap at a snow ball and demolish it with her snout in mid-air. I tried to clear some of the downed branches from the yard, but the snow dog just assumed I was trying to play with her, biting at the sticks and ripping them to shreds before I could get them to the brush pile. We didn't get quite enough snow for her to do her patented snow tunneling move, which is my favorite, but I'm thinking she liked it all the same and was thrilled to run around all the neighbors' yards and get icicles on her muzzle as she was doing it!


P.S. NASA collected a very cool MODIS image of the recent snowfall along the East Coast. Impressive!