Friday, February 27, 2015

The Icy Fingers of Spring

Thought for the day:  Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine. [Anthony D'Angelo]

On Valentine's Day, Smarticus and I went for a nice long walk at Freeman's Mill Park. In addition to the gorgeous old mill,  there's plenty of paths around the area, and even a small waterfall, as seen in the header. And let me tell ya, it was a bee-yoooo-ti-ful day, too. Just look at that clear blue sky. It came in a package deal with a few cotton candy white clouds, a gentle breeze, and pleasant temperatures. Yep, spring was in the air, baby.

Love was in the air, too. We found this in a clearing just before the falls: a heart formed with red roses, framing the words, Will you marry me?

Awwwww, how romantic. (I hope she said yes!)

That was on Saturday, mind you. Monday's weather was a whole 'nother matter.

Only in America do we accept weather predictions from a rodent, but deny climate change evidence from scientists. 


Let me preface this by saying, just two short weeks earlier, a crowd of over-zealous early risers ventured to the Yellow River Game Ranch to witness this year's weather prediction from Georgia's resident rodent... groundhog General Beauregard Lee. The fat furry general thrilled the crowd when he waddled out of his mansion at 7:33 AM without seeing his shadow. Woo HOO! An early spring! (No big surprise, because spring almost always arrives in Georgia before its official calendar date.) Nonetheless, everyone went home happy, secure in the knowledge that our warm weather was here to stay.

[morguefile]
And then, OOPS! On the sixteenth, winter popped in for an encore visit. Ice storm! Trees just north of us were coated with so much ice, they toppled, often taking out power lines with them. Lots of people without electricity. C-c-cold. NOT spring-like at all.



[morguefile]

The newspaper even showed a picture of a fella ice-climbing on a frozen waterfall in north Georgia!

Nope, NOT spring-like at all.








Except for a few stray flakes, we fared pretty well that time. But earlier this week, winter made another call, and we got (gasp!)



(Yeah, I know. Compared to the mountain of white stuff some of the country is buried under, calling what we got snow is kinda like that line from the Crocodile Dundee movie when he's accosted by a punk with a pocket knife. Just before pulling out his own enormous blade, Dundee laughed, and said something along the lines of, "You call that a knife...?)

[morguefile]

Still, our General Lee has a terrific track record, darn it. His predictions have been correct an amazing 94% of the time. Lee's so good, so reliable, he actually has honorary degrees from two (count 'em... TWO!) state colleges. From the University of Georgia, he has the esteemed DWP, Doctor of Weather Prognostication, and from Georgia State University, a doctorate of Southern Groundology. So HOW, I ask you... HOW could he have gotten it so wrong this time?

                                                        We decided to go find out...

General Beauregard Lee's mansion
So off the the Yellow River Game Ranch we go with slingshots under our coats.

"YO! General Lee!" I yelled. "I'd like to talk with you!"

Nothing. No fat furry critter. Not a sound. Nothing.

"Aw, come on," I cooed, while putting a pebble in the sling. "We don't blame you for totally blowing the forecast. We just wanta (heh heh) talk..."

Still nothing. Nary a sign of our favorite rotund rodent.

Because (gasp) the rascally rodent... wasn't home!

The groundhog is like most other prophets; it delivers its prediction and then disappears. [Bill Vaughn]



Alas, it seems we weren't the first to pay him a visit, and evidently, others weren't nearly as nice as we are. Can you believe it? They actually blamed that stinkin' fat rat for our wintry weather.



So the sly critter made tracks out of the park and waddled to the nearest watering hole. Probably felt darned sorry for himself as he sucked down a few grasshoppers...


And now? Now, I hear that rat is enjoying some nice spring weather, just as he predicted. In Florida.


Don't knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while. [Kim Hubbard]


Oh, fear not. Spring WILL get here. Eventually. Besides... There's one good thing about spring snow; it makes your lawn look as nice as your neighbor's.  [Clyde Moore]



                                                      Seeeee? What'd I tell ya?

                                     Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

Spring is when you feel like whistling, even with a shoe full of slush.  [Doug Larson]

80 comments:

  1. Haha was it a false alarm? In Russia there something what they call a "christening cold". I don't know if it has anything to do with religion as the name sounds Christian. It comes like a sign that the last sweep of cold is happening and after comes spring. But I remember that it does get warm after it but then cold, very cold again. Perhaps mr.Lee's not the only one to blame :)

    Love that proposal on rock, it'll b forever etched and tge couple can come to reminisce, isn't it nice. I hope she said yes too.

    Oh and I like the quotes especially about bringing my own sunshine.

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    1. I think spring enjoys teasing us with early promises of what's to come, no matter where we live. Our temperatures are warming up again here, and it's supposed to be in the seventies next week. Hopefully, winter has gasped its last frigid breath.

      I don't know how long that written proposal will last, because it's written in sand, but I hope the couple at least took a picture of it.

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    2. Oh I thought it was a big rock on the bank. Yeah, picture would do :)

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    3. It does look like rock in that picture. (Maybe the guy wasn't sure enough of the answer to risk putting his question on something as long-lasting as a rock.)

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  2. Winter is doing its hanging-in-there thing here in the UK, as well. (And the US isn't the only country to take meteorological advice from a rodent and ignore scientists - I've been travelling and met some 'interesting' ideas that would have any scientist weeping!!)

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    1. I suppose we shouldn't begrudge winter her time, eh? Which I can happily say because our temperatures are going back up again. It's supposed to be in the seventies next week. :)

      I can just imagine some of the "interesting ideas" you've encountered in your travels.

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  3. Beauregard had better not venture to the Tennessee mountains. I'd use his hide to make warm slippers and his meat to make a stew. I'm still hopelessly snowed in and haven't had water for a week (due to frozen pipes). I'm anxiously awaiting the August thaw.

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    1. HA! You crack me up, cowboy. Let's hope your thaw is right around the corner.

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  4. I wouldn't mind a little snow... it is all the nasty ice under it... my favorite thing (hear the sarcasm) is when someone says, hey, you are used to this weather, you live in Nova Scotia... This is when I say ahhh... NO... sorry, we are not used to never ending ice.

    I know what this nasty icy weather has done for me, it has given me a great appreciation for every other season, there will be no complaints... bring on the rains of Spring, I will be wearing boots and a rain coat, bring on the hot summer, I won't complain of sweating at all, not even with my hot flashes and I have always loved Fall... except for the fact that it leads us to Winter...

    Oh well, not much longer, just a few more weeks... then I will be able to shed my big Winter coat, there is always hope... lol

    I hope you are having a great week Susan xox

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    1. Yeah, that's what we got is a "little snow." It was completely gone by the afternoon. I know what you mean about the ice, though. We never experienced the devastation of an ice storm until we moved here, and it was a real eye-opener.

      Here's to spring, Luanna! It'll be here before ya know it. Happy weekend!

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  5. Our Punxsutawney Phil was right, so we hated him the minute he came out of his house and told us that winter would be (surprise) winter. i don't mind the snow (which, this year, has been less than normal), it is the ice that frightens me the most. We had that last year and with all the trees that fell, it looked like a war zone.

    Hopefully, spring will be on time this year and your lovely, warm Georgia, will return to what it normally is - a place for Northerners to escape to.

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    1. But at least your Phil didn't LIE to ya!

      I hope your spring thaw is well on its way. The temperatures here are on the way back up where they belong. Supposed to be in the seventies next week. A little cooler than that right now, but LOTS of sunshine. (That's more like it!)

      Happy weekend!

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  6. Yes, Wiarton Willy told us it was going to be an early Spring as well.....he lies people...he lies.

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  7. I loved that heart! :-) It's been spring here all winter long, minus the temperatures. But no snow.

    Greetings from London.

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    1. I loved that heart, too. It's nice to know there are still romantics in the world.

      Shhhhhh, you should never mention out loud (or in writing) that you've had no snow. You're tempting fate.

      Greetings back atcha.

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  8. "Everybody talks about the weather
    but nobody does anything about it."
    ~ Mark Twain


    SUSKI, I love the header photo as well as the picture of the old mill!

    "A groundhog walks into a bar..."
    Ha!-Ha! Maybe he'll look where he's going next time.

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

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    1. Yep, Mark Twain was absolutely right. (Smart dude, wasn't he?)

      Oh, you know how those groundhogs are... they NEVER look where they're going.

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  9. This winter has been a wild ride for many, that's for sure. I'm more than ready to send it packing! Cute post! :D

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  10. Wish spring was in the air here, still friggin cold. haha that is so true. No climate change, but a rodent is oh so wise

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    1. Think warm thoughts, and while you're waiting for the weather to comply, drink lots of hot chocolate. With little marshmallows. :)

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  11. Ever since they invented the internet, rodents don't lie. Stay warm!

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    1. All I can say is the invention of the Internet seems to have encouraged a lot more PEOPLE to lie.

      Things are definitely warming up here. (But I still have a little heater going to keep my feet warm here in the office.)

      Happy weekend!

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  12. Shame on you for threatening General Lee. It's 51 degrees here, and mostly cloudy. I find that my part of Florida is slow to warm up in the spring, and that's fine with me.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. Hey! I didn't threaten the lying little rat... he wasn't home!

      That's about the same as our temperature was today, only it was sunny. I'm looking forward to the warmer weather that's supposed to be here in the next couple days.

      Happy weekend, kiddo!

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  13. It's been a tiny bit warmer here this week during the day and the winds have died - thank goodness!

    Love the 'marry me.' Damn that was sweet.

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    1. I'm glad to hear the weather's a little better for you up there. (Enough's enough!)

      Yeah, I know. Really, really sweet.

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  14. awww, General Lee is just a cutie !
    We are hoping for some rain by us and snow in the mountains this weekend finger crossed. Our winter has been very mild, again !

    cheers, parsnip

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    1. Yeah, General Lee is a cutie, and so is his little mansion.

      Mild winters suit me just fine, as long as we have a few days of below freezing weather to kill off some of the bug population. Especially the fleas.

      Cheers back atcha. Happy weekend!

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    2. Kill off the bug population and the fleas... I so agree with that !
      I have always wondered why God made fleas and wasps ?

      cheers, parsnip

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    3. Absolutely! (And why the heck Noah didn't swat those boogers when he had the chance...)

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  15. always scary when there's snow or ice on trees that still have leaves. Sounds like you are surviving and staying warm. We had a snow blast in TX today - quite a drive challenge. Stay warm

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    1. Yeah, that ice is scary.Beautiful, but scary. I was shocked to see snow had been hitting parts of Texas pretty hard. You stay warm, too!

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  16. This post is a pleasure to read. I sure hope whoever wrote "Marry me" found happiness. I only asked 2 girls to do that. 1st when I was in kindergarten and on the condition that I grew up to be Roy Rogers. 2nd is more forgiving.

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    1. I hope the romantic person who wrote "Will you marry me?" found happiness, too.That was SUCH a sweet thing to do.

      For Norma's sake, I'm very glad you didn't grow up to be Roy Rogers, dude.

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  17. Let me say at the outset, I am a big fan of General B. Lee. But while his track record is far better than Phil's, I think he blew it this year. It's okay, we all have off days. At least he didn't bite the mayor like Jimmy the groundhog in Wisconsin. Jimmy was apparently having an off day, too. He also predicted an early spring. :)

    I still can't see out my windows because of the mountains of snow in my yard. Makes Spring seem a long way off even with today's sunshine.

    Never visited Freeman's Mill Park, but it reminds me of Old Mill Park in Roswell. One of my (and my dog's) favorite places ever.

    VR Barkowski

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    1. The warm weather has returned, so the General is forgiven. At least he didn't bite anybody.

      You may technically see the start of spring soon, but I have a feeling that snow's gonna be hanging around for quite a while.(Good thing you like it!)

      Freeman's Mill is in Lawrenceville. We'd only heard about it recently, and were pleasantly surprised by how nice it is there. A terrific place to walk. I'm sure you and your dog would love it there.

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  18. I love that romantic message. I too hope they said yes and that they'll be happy, happy, happy. Explain that groundhog stuff to me again, would you?! We don't have groundhogs in the UK. I don't think we do anyway.

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    1. I don't know how the tradition started, but if the groundhog sees its shadow on February 2, there's gonna be six more weeks of winter. If not, it's supposed to be an early spring. Makes perfect sense, right? HA!

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  19. I once saw a romantic message on a sand castle. It's nice stumbling into these.

    I'm hoping that spring comes real soon to those up north.

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    1. You're right. It's really nice to come across someone's romantic message like that.

      Me, too. I think they're all more than done with winter.

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  20. Love the heart of roses and the romantic thoughts and effort behind it!

    The toughest cold spells are the ones after the first tease of spring. Cold and snow didn't bother me much - well, not all the time - until after we had seen the first signs of spring and gotten a whiff of warm air. It's like someone waved a plate of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies in front of you and then wandered off with it.

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    1. Yeah, I love that heart of roses, too. I'm hoping someone was swept off her feet by it.

      What a perfect analogy! Yes, getting warm weather ripped away is exactly like being teased by a plate of warm cookies. (Gee, thanks... NOW I want some cookies... HA!)

      On the plus side, the warm weather is back. We've got the windows open today. :)

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  21. Only in America do we accept weather predictions from a rodent, but deny climate change evidence from scientists. ~ That pretty much sums up our country, sorry to say. We've had a really, really cold spell here in Pennsylvania. There are chunks of ice in the Delaware River -- which pretty much proves that the famous painting of Washington crossing the Delaware is more historically accurate than some people think.

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    1. I know your weather's been pretty rough in PA this year. Good thing you're so tough, huh? (Well, you like to ski, so you must like the cold weather and snow...)

      Wow, I don't imagine the Delaware gets chunks of ice in it very often. Makes me cold just to think of it.

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  22. Yea, these days, around here all we seem to talk about is the snow. What will we discuss when it melts? Oh, yes. The floods. Do you have room for me? I think I'd like to move to Georgia!

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    1. Yep, talk about the snow now, and the floods later. Then the drought for a grand finale.

      Sure! Come on down!

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  23. Springtime happiness is only enhanced for me when I discover that huge sections of my yard died over the winter. A little weed killer every now and I'm well on my way to a great summer.

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    1. We don't use weed killer in our yard. If we did, there wouldn't be anything left but red GA clay.

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  24. We got 20 inches of snow last weekend, and it's still been snowing on/off for the past week so none of it's melted. Yes, that's right, I just 'knifey spoony'd you. (I prefer that to 'you call that a knife?')

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcE0aAhbVFc

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    1. Yowza. I hope you made some kick-ass Godzilla snowmen.

      HA! We don't watch "The Simpsons," so that knifey-spoon stuff was new to me. Funny!

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  25. We got one flake of snow and there was mass panic. By the time we got two, the whole of London went on high alert as we prepared for the 'snowbomb.' (which incidentally, never came) Lord help us all if it snows for more than 30 seconds. It will bring about chaos and utter devastation!!

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    1. Sounds remarkably like my neck of the woods. Atlanta has been the laughing stock of the country on more than one occasion for the inept way we handle a few snow flakes. No kidding. There have been times when schools and businesses were closed, based on the weather dudes thinking it MIGHT snow. God help us when it actually does snow, because cars are abandoned on the highways and/or people get stuck for hours and hours on end. Last year was the worst. Took some people almost 24 hours to make their usual commute home from work, and some kids had to spend the night at school. That nightmare has been dubbed (gasp!) Snowmagedden.

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  26. I've been seeing all these car pile ups...so hope snow eases and no more accidents.

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    1. There have been an awful lot of multi-car pile-ups this year. The snow is bad enough, but all that ice makes things bazillion times worse.

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  27. I Like It , I'm quite sure I will be told many new stuff right right here! Best of luck for the next!

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    1. Hi-ya. Thanks for stopping by. Best of luck to you, too!

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  28. I hope winter loosens its grasp, however tenuous, on your part of the world. We are very happy not to have had any snow this year. I have had enough snow during years in the north to last me a lifetime!
    The rodent as predictor of weather? Perhaps if he had an opinion on climate change people would believe the science!

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    1. Thanks. It looks like winter was only passing through; we're back to being able to open the windows again. :)

      Yeah, I had more than enough snow when we lived in Maryland to last me a lifetime, too, but we never had as much snow as places like Boston are getting this year. OY! That's incredible.

      You're right. Because rodents are so much more "reliable" than scientists...(to some people, anyhow)

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  29. Well, I had no idea that Georgia had its own weather-predicting groundhog. The darn over-grown rat must be a Yankee in disguise. The weather this year has been pretty nutty.

    Arlee Bird
    A to Z Challenge Co-host
    Tossing It Out

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    1. I wonder how many other places have their own groundhogs?Probably a lot more than we think.

      Yeah, it has been a crazy winter, especially for the folks in the northeast.With all the snow they've had, I'll bet Bostonians are pulling for a few more inches so they can set an all-time record.(Might as well! What's a few more inches...?)

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  30. Sorry about that good-for-nothing groundhog! Hopefully, it will start warming up by you soon. Loved the quote about "whistling even with a shoe full of slush!"

    Julie

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    1. HA! It's warm again, so the General has been forgiven for that teensy lapse.

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  31. What is happening with the weather? Let's blame it on the groundhog. They look kinda like rats.

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    1. Yeah, I agree! Let's blame the wacky weather on those furry critters. Heck, why not blame them for all the stuff we don't like about the world today? Nothing better than a scapegoat that can't argue with us.

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  32. I'm surprised at the loveliness of General Lee's abode. That rat lives nicer than I do!

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    1. HA! Nothing like a plantation mansion for a rat, eh?

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  33. Poor General Lee. People out to "talk" to him with slingshots. I wouldn't be home either.

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    1. HA! (You DO know we didn't actually try to go talk to him, right...?)

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  34. Ha! I just said that same exact thing about the snow covered lawns. We had ice raining dow on us all day yesterday. My youngest thought the crunchy snow was cool. ;)

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    1. PLUS there's no need to mow or weed a snow-covered lawn.

      Yeah, crunchy snow is cool... for a little while. I'll bet it makes for some hard snowballs, too. (OW!)

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  35. As I read this, it is pouring snow outside and they are calling for 6-10 inches overnight :)

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    1. And you're probably loving it! I saw on TV this morning that parts of Kentucky are setting new records for most amount of snow in the shortest period of time, and I thought of you. I wasn't sure if you were in KY or Germany right now, but it sounds like you're getting a bunch of snow, wherever you are. :)

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  36. Actually, I'm not unhappy with our COLD weather. During the past couple winters, we had a 'fake spring' thaw in February, enough to coax trees/bushes to bud and early bloomers like daffodils and tulips to sprout...only to be killed when winter set in again. This year everything is frozen solid so when spring comes I might get some flowers.

    And personally, I think those poor groundhogs would be happier if we just left them alone and harassed that weather guy/gal on TV. At least they're getting paid for it.

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    1. I know what you mean. As gorgeous as our Bradford pear trees are when they're in bloom all over town, it's heartbreaking to see their blossoms killed off by a cold snap. (I hope you gets LOTS of flowers this spring... with the cold weather you've had, you've earned it!)

      You're right. It's pretty bad when a rodent has a better success rate at predicting the weather than the meteorologists do.

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  37. What beautiful photos! Cute groundhog. We got our last big snowfall last night. In the 50's next week. :) Yahoo!!

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    1. Congrats on getting the last snowfall of the year. (Let's hope mother nature agrees...)

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