Mother's Wrath

I had planned to write about something else today, but my chagrin over the weather changed the plan. We have gotten 10 inches of heavy, wet snow since Sunday night. We may get 1-3 more before it's done this afternoon. It is April 21st, right? I didn't turn the calendar ahead a month too early or something? Our plow is back at the cabin, the shovel and snow boots had been put away, and the scrapers are out of the cars. Any brave flowers that were starting to peek out of the ground are now buried. I heard a couple robins making plans to head back south. The power has been out twice, for two hours yesterday and one this morning, and many areas have had much longer outages.
But--I can't keep complaining about this without 'fessing up to my role in it. Last week when it was in the 60s and 70s, I put away my winter clothes and got out the spring/summer stuff. Anyone who has lived in Wisconsin her whole life should know better than to tempt fate in that way. We all know summer doesn't really start here until mid-June or better, so how dare we pack up the sweaters and long johns in April??! Mother Nature took one look at me in shorts last Friday and brought winter back with a vengeance. I'm not sure if it was my flouting the gods or my glaringly white legs, but either way, winter has returned. To add insult to injury, I also caught my only cold of the season. Fred got it last week, and now I'm aching and coughing too. But, I can't go back to bed. I have to put on my boots, sweatshirt, and sweatpants, slog through the drifts to take care of the dogs, and then haul the garbage and recyclables down to the end of the driveway. And Friday, when it is again going to be 70 degrees, I am leaving my winter clothes and the snow shovel out, in plain sight, so nobody thinks I think winter is over!!
I have to congratulate my brother-in-law, Terry Stanton, who ran in the Boston Marathon yesterday. He finished with a time of 3 hours, 36 minutes and placed overall 9127 out of 25,000 runners. He is 48 years old, and I am very proud of the job he did representing our age group and the family! Way to go, Terry!!! Now come up here and get Fred and me in shape for the Rump Roast Run, will you?!