Never Trust a Groundhog

Earlier this month some poor groundhog got dragged out of bed and paraded around before a gaggle of television cameramen. A silly man in a top hat declared that the confused-looking creature had seen his shadow and, therefore, we were destined to suffer through six more weeks of winter. Now, I'm pretty sure that with all those halogen lights pointed at him from every direction there is no way that groundhog could see his shadow, or anything else for that matter. I think top hat guy was trying to pull our fuzzy wool hats with ear flaps over our eyes. Winter is going away, fast. I have evidence.

The first sign of early spring came two days after our last snowfall, and a day after we finished shoveling the accumulated snow. From the depths of the garage came the distinctive rumble of the snow blower. After messing with the engine all winter, my husband finally got it started. This all but guarantees that there will be no more snow this winter.

Last week our lizard woke up early. Those of you who are familiar with the burmation habits of bearded dragons will recognize her early rising as a clear sign that spring is coming. For those of you who have never watched a lizard sleep for six straight months, trust me that being greeted by an open-eyed lizard two weeks ahead of schedule is a very pleasant surprise. (Check out her picture. Note the open eyes. Also, note my hand, which would have had lots of tiny little teeth marks in it if I had tried to pick her up while she was still sleeping. Never wake a sleeping dragon, no matter how big it is.) We were totally unprepared for her to crawl out from under her log (she sleeps under a log - really!) and had to make an emergency trip to PetSmart for food and a new full-spectrum UV bulb for her enclosure. She is glaring at me through the glass of the enclosure right now. I think she knows I'm talking about her. Either that, or she's just realized she missed Christmas, again.

When my daughter made the high school swim team, we had to cancel our Christmas vacation plans to head north because she had practices every day. As a result, there has been no skiing for me this year, yet. Swim season is almost over and we've scheduled the first weekend in March to drive up to the lake, see my parents, and hit the slopes for an afternoon. It had been so cold and snowy up there this winter that we were sure there would still be snow when we got there. So what happens? Last week the temperatures went into the 40s and the snow melted. Winter is over.