No Sign of Winter

  As sure as I write this, the weather will change and cold will come. But for today, it's pushing toward the end of February with a balmy 65 degrees, The sun is breaking through the clouds. I noticed our neighbors having lunch on their protected east & south facing screened in porch.
   Spring tulips and daffodils are up about six inches and putting out buds getting ready to dance across the garden. A few up the hill at a higher elevation are providing spots of color to a dreary landscape. Some years ago I picked daffodils from a neighbor's yard for the table on Valentine's Day, but I can't remember the year.
   The white forsythia in its southern exposure, by the office window, is in full bloom. It does bloom much earlier than the yellow variety and its blooms are smaller. The yellow forsythia is budding out and here & there a few bright yellow blooms.
   The Farmers' Almanac for 2017 predicted for this day "Frigidly cold temperatures" and I wonder where winter is. I know we sit in an area where two major climate regions meet (according to the maps) and at times I believe they collide directly over our house. So that whichever wind is blowing the hardest will bring with it the weather we least expect.
   Surprisingly the Farmers' Almanac is seldom wrong and has a better track record than the National Weather Service, which is a mere infant in the weather forecasting department. The Farmers' Almanac has weather data going back 200 years. They publish their predictions sixteen months in advance. That is taking a long shot in a chancy business.
   We join a grateful nation in saying congratulations to a publication that has existed for 200 years. We will forgive you when you miss it and continue to heed your predictions in the future.
   One hibernating animal I've not seen running across the patio is a chipmunk. Maybe they read the almanac and decided to stay in their burrows, knowing no matter how nice it feels today Old Man Winter isn't finished with us.|
   We had decided not to put this piece up on the blog as it is a local occurrence. We know others parts of the country are not enjoying an extended spring. 
   A stranger stopped by our table this morning while we were eating breakfast in town to tell us how much he enjoyed the piece when it appeared it the paper. This is to say thank you to him for making our day.
Nash Black, author of Sandprints of Death Volume 1 of the Jim Young series.