Dang nabbit!

I like cold. I love snow. I like to get all bundled up in my heavy wool sweaters and thick gloves, my fleece pants and a woolen hat. I like to go for long walks when the temperature dips below freezing and watch my breath trail behind me as I go. I love the feeling of entering a warm house after a brisk, chilly walk. I love the smell of the wintry air, the way my eyes water when I first step out the door into the frigidity.

But dang nabbit, it's spring and it shouldn't be this cold.

This morning we woke to 34 degrees and crisp, chilly blue skies. First I went for a jog with Rubin. I warmed up, but had scheduled a bike ride with the neighbor at ten. She wanted to know the bike route to the University and I volunteered. I kicked myself as we rode down the big hills in the frosty weather, my hands chapped and clamped onto my handlebars, my nose dripping, and my ears burning with the cold. On the way back, it started to snow.

Let me say that again: It started to snow. April 20 and it started to snow. Rain I understand. Semi-cold, gray, rainy days I get. April showers bring May flowers -- that kind of gray and rainy. That kind of cold. Like flowers blooming is a possibility if not an actuality.

But now it's so cold, the flowers have retreated. They've headed to Florida that's how far they have retreated. Or maybe Texas. Or maybe even Australia where technically it's winter, but it's probably warmer than our spring. The flowers would be stupid to show their little buds in this weather.

Meanwhile, the heating bill is substantially higher. I watch that little year-long-use graph and cringe when the bar for March and April shoots far above the bar marking last March and April. And I thought it was cold last spring!

My toes are cold. My ears are cold. At night, my nose is so cold I sleep with my head under the covers. I NEVER sleep with my nose under the covers because I feel as if I'm suffocating, but now I'm so desperate to be warm, I risk suffocation every night.

The outlook for warmer weather is dismal. I check the 5-day forecast and chilly mornings are to be followed by chilly, rainy days. When I look at the 10-day forecast there always seems to be some optimism with predictions of 60 degree weather. But these past few weeks I've learned to loathe those predictions as they are almost always incorrect. Actually, they are incorrect when they forecast warmer temperatures. When they forecast colder weather they are dead on.

Dang nabbit!