Dear God,

Just a quick note: I think your thermostat is broken. The temperature is supposed to be in the 40’s.

Sincerely, Tim from New England

Or does God use a weather-control grid?

Now that the storm is passed, and we’re all dug out—which is a whole other story, for another time—we can look back at the fun, the pain, and even the beauty Nemo left us.

The funnest part, of course—for many of us—was being bundled up safe at home, with plenty of supplies, while the cold world raged outside. Some of us lost power, unfortunately, at least for a period of time; and with power, heat.

Others, like my own brother and his wife, worked into the storm (and some of them, through the storm), in emergency-response and medical fields, and for that we thank them.

And after it was over, then came the basking and romping, and some great photo-taking. I’ve collected a number of photos my friends have posted.

Like this little fella (posted by one of my other sisters-in-law), waiting for another shovelful:

The bill has come due for the mild winter we had last year. And since Punxsutawney Phil (played by the classic actor Bill Murray) has predicted an early spring—which here in New England means snow, rain, sleet, hail, and 90-degree swelter, all within a 24-hour period… Since Phil has predicted an early spring, God has apparently decided to cram all the winter originally planned all into an 18-hour period.

Almost 35 years to the day (almost) since the Great Blizzard of ‘78. (Of course, that year, Phil did see his shadow. So clearly, Phil isn’t always too accurate.)

After posting a “Bits & Pieces” post yesterday of over 1200 words, I suddenly realized that I had enough good material in there for a whole week of actual blog posts… if I made them a little shorter. And I’m thinking that would probably be a better approach. Starting today.

According to Weather.com, last night began a “wind chill advisory”:

This morning, a radio ad began, “Now that the beautiful spring weather is here in New England…”

Ha! Good joke! Especially for April Fool’s. That made my day.

You see, God sometimes has a bizarre sense of humor. One year, for April Fool’s, he allowed me to get laid off from my job, and so began my end in that industry. (Seriously.)

This year, on April the 1’th, he sent snow. Actually, more like slush falling from the sky. It collects on the trees, which then take great pleasure in shelling you with it as you pass under. So, all of nature is in on the joke. They got me really good this morning, hit my car dead-on with a slush-balloon, and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

“Hit!” I swear I heard them laugh in the distance.

So today, I thankfully reproduce the speech of Mr. Samuel L. Clemens on New England weather, as reported by the New York Times, December 23, 1876.

-TimK

This is so not fun.

This morning, when I checked my outdoor digital thermometer, the sight buoyed my spirits. I honestly thought it said 68°F. After all, yesterday the temperature hit 50. Why shouldn’t it get even warmer today? Somehow, first thing in the morning, that made sense. In my morning stupor, I had missed the decimal point, otherwise clearly visible between the tenths digit and the ones digit.

I am so not a morning person.

Last week, I swear I heard Phil promise us an early Spring. I’m convinced he did so to make up for the way the Steelers played on Sunday. But, O Phil, if Spring is to arrive early this year, why does the sun yet rise so late in the morning? Why does the chill yet inflict my toes with frostbite? How come I still have to scrape an inch of frost off the car every damn morning?

I am so not a morning person.