Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Change the subject



They're gone, gone, gone
They're gone, gone, gone

And, we just CAN't bring 'em back.

And, that's okay.

The subject is changing.

January icicles are but a memory.

January's thaw has begun, and you'd better watch your behinder.

Everybody I talked to was mad yesterday cuz the weather forecasters told us to expect rain by afternoon.

It wasn't that anyone really wanted rain. After all, it would be much messier than what we've endured for the past three-plus weeks.

But rain is not snow.

And, at least, that's a different subject for bellyaching purposes.

We had exhausted every
%#0@888# comment known to man and woman that could be uttered about snow.

The subject was getting stale.

So, at least when people were mad because the rains hadn't come, that was a change of pace.

In the early evening, the rains finally came to North Idaho and the Selle Valley.

This morning the driveway is an ice-skating rink. The paper hasn't arrived yet. I'm imagining that paper carrier slipping and sliding down all the back roads and maybe digging out a time or two.

This morning I noticed that our northwest barn door, which, fortunately, we never use, has buckled in its lower portion from the snow weight pushing from outside. Tons of snow have slid off the roof, causing that pressure and providing some temporary insulation to warm up the barn, which really needs no more warmth now.

I was happy that the gate to the barnyard required no snow shovel this morning. I went out there last night, shoveled and opened the gate wide enough for a big spotted mare to walk through. It remained untouched by snow overnight.

Progress.

A new subject: how messy will it get before it gets better? That is the question.

Speaking of barns, we were saddened and shocked to hear that the Spokane Sport Horse Arena had collapsed yesterday morning just half an hour before a group was scheduled to ride inside the facility. My sister was downright disgusted, especially after all the pains they took over the past couple of weeks, with heaters going full blast, to see that their Coburn arena is still standing through all this.

Laurie spends time at the Sport Horse facility in the summer with her dressage events. We wonder what will happen to those and if they'll replace the arena. It could take some time.

The big talk among friends is how this weather could happen two years in a row. Oldtimers have been as shocked as anyone, but I'm seeing some positive signs.

Maybe the signs are right. Maybe they're wrong.

The day after Christmas a big flock of red-winged blackbirds spent a couple of hours in our Scotch Pine tree, dining out of the bird feeder. Yesterday I heard and saw a flock of Canadian geese flying south. We also had way too many starlings fly in yesterday to grab leftovers from the Scotch Pine bird feeder.

I try to ignore starlings, but I've always loved noting the first black-bird sighting in the spring. We haven't seen them out here, but every year, the advance crew usually showed up around the first week in February.

So, maybe those sightings are signs of an early spring.

Guess we'll find out, but for most of us right now, that's not soon enough.

Change of subject: can the ZAGS come back tonight? Patsy, I know you're pulling for your Tennessee Volunteers, but the rest of us could use a ZAG victory bigtime. I have to comment on the armchair coaches who write in to the paper with all their advice now that the Zags have lost a couple of games.

I think Mark Few ought to call them up, invite them in, and ask them get started "pronto" doing a better job of coaching. As teachers, we were often tempted to offer the letters-to-the-editor naysayers a week in the classroom, walking a mile in our shoes. Any situation involving human beings involves its ups and downs. Often it takes a real downer for anyone or any group to improve. Often, the improvement is stunning.

Maybe that will happen in the ZAG kingdom, beginning tonight. GO ZAGS!

And, Snow, thank you for GOing. We'll be really happy when you're gone, gone, gone.



Posted by Picasa

2 comments:

Unknown said...

If history repeats itself (did you see those Lady Vols when they played the Gonzaga girls just after Christmas!), Tennessee will give a huge instructional lesson.

Winter isn't over yet. Think April. Or May.

Do you knit?

Word Tosser said...

could be a early spring...but seeing is believing..

also remember we go in 7 year cycles... so we have 5 more years of this type of winters.. right?