Don't Be Fooled By The Weather
February 22, 2017 at 4:13 p.m.
By Roger Grossman-
This unseasonably warm weather we’ve had during the last week has put our “spring fever” into overdrive and made us forget the absolute absurdity of that stupid groundhog’s prediction of six more weeks of winter.
Everything we love about spring was in play.
Golf courses scrambled to cut holes and put flag sticks in so golfers could tee it up – and golfers showed up in big numbers.
Parking lots at the boat ramps were completely filled with trucks and trailers while the fishermen that left them there cruised the shallows looking for fish that had come to sun themselves near the shorelines.
People took advantage of the warmth to get out and clear the leaves they’d missed back in the fall that now collected in the corners of their fenced-in yards, and there were sticks to be picked up – lots and lots of sticks.
The buds on the limbs of my giant maple tree have popped out.
It’s a terrific start to spring, except it’s not even close to being spring yet. The calendar says it’s still very much February.
February. You remember February. It’s generally a very depressing month. The romance of winter ends with Valentine’s Day and we are ready to move on to the next thing.
But this is no ordinary February. This is no ordinary winter. Temps in the teens and 20s have been non-existant. No snow storms. No school delays. No gripping the steering wheel until your knuckles turn white trying to keep your car from sliding into the ditch.
I have long held to the theory that ‘winter’ is its own sports season. Every day from Thanksgiving until February 28 is a new game. When it snows we lose, when it doesn’t we win. Within that season there’s winning streaks and losing streaks.
We are having a record-setting season.
But somewhere in the back of our minds are those little voices inside our heads that are saying “hello, this is winter, and I have an awful, evil surprise waiting for you.”
Scared? No?
You should be.
The thing about winter and summer is they are the Yin and Yang of our world. Winter brings the balance to the joy of the warmer months. You can tell the people who have optimism in their blood by those who embrace the cold and snow and find ways to make the best of what the rest of us see as a bad situation.
So … now what? We feel like we have had such an easy winter, right?
Where is the Yin? Where is the penalty of walking out the front door in February and being slapped in the face with a -20 wind chill that sticks to your face for an hour after you’ve gone back inside.
You must know that it’s coming. From somewhere, somehow, it will show its ugly head. It must. Sure, we have seen days like these before, but they are soon followed by forecasts filled with phrases like ‘blowing and drifting’ and ‘mixed bag of precipitation.’
“What’s your point Roger?”
My point is that you should take advantage of every minute of every day that it remains like this. I know it puts our normal chain of events out of sequence, but we don’t know how long this will last and when Yin will decide to kick in. Or, more importantly, how late in the calendar winter may wait to launch its campaign of treachery.
Tee it up and hit it hard and straight. Fling your favorite slow-trolling spinner bait into what the fish finder shows should be crappie stacked up in the shallows, and then have the neighbors over for a fish fry. Get that bike out and ride it or find a friend and run as far as you can and then back again.
Go for it … while you can. Winter is out there somewhere.
This unseasonably warm weather we’ve had during the last week has put our “spring fever” into overdrive and made us forget the absolute absurdity of that stupid groundhog’s prediction of six more weeks of winter.
Everything we love about spring was in play.
Golf courses scrambled to cut holes and put flag sticks in so golfers could tee it up – and golfers showed up in big numbers.
Parking lots at the boat ramps were completely filled with trucks and trailers while the fishermen that left them there cruised the shallows looking for fish that had come to sun themselves near the shorelines.
People took advantage of the warmth to get out and clear the leaves they’d missed back in the fall that now collected in the corners of their fenced-in yards, and there were sticks to be picked up – lots and lots of sticks.
The buds on the limbs of my giant maple tree have popped out.
It’s a terrific start to spring, except it’s not even close to being spring yet. The calendar says it’s still very much February.
February. You remember February. It’s generally a very depressing month. The romance of winter ends with Valentine’s Day and we are ready to move on to the next thing.
But this is no ordinary February. This is no ordinary winter. Temps in the teens and 20s have been non-existant. No snow storms. No school delays. No gripping the steering wheel until your knuckles turn white trying to keep your car from sliding into the ditch.
I have long held to the theory that ‘winter’ is its own sports season. Every day from Thanksgiving until February 28 is a new game. When it snows we lose, when it doesn’t we win. Within that season there’s winning streaks and losing streaks.
We are having a record-setting season.
But somewhere in the back of our minds are those little voices inside our heads that are saying “hello, this is winter, and I have an awful, evil surprise waiting for you.”
Scared? No?
You should be.
The thing about winter and summer is they are the Yin and Yang of our world. Winter brings the balance to the joy of the warmer months. You can tell the people who have optimism in their blood by those who embrace the cold and snow and find ways to make the best of what the rest of us see as a bad situation.
So … now what? We feel like we have had such an easy winter, right?
Where is the Yin? Where is the penalty of walking out the front door in February and being slapped in the face with a -20 wind chill that sticks to your face for an hour after you’ve gone back inside.
You must know that it’s coming. From somewhere, somehow, it will show its ugly head. It must. Sure, we have seen days like these before, but they are soon followed by forecasts filled with phrases like ‘blowing and drifting’ and ‘mixed bag of precipitation.’
“What’s your point Roger?”
My point is that you should take advantage of every minute of every day that it remains like this. I know it puts our normal chain of events out of sequence, but we don’t know how long this will last and when Yin will decide to kick in. Or, more importantly, how late in the calendar winter may wait to launch its campaign of treachery.
Tee it up and hit it hard and straight. Fling your favorite slow-trolling spinner bait into what the fish finder shows should be crappie stacked up in the shallows, and then have the neighbors over for a fish fry. Get that bike out and ride it or find a friend and run as far as you can and then back again.
Go for it … while you can. Winter is out there somewhere.
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