I just pulled back the drapery, released the window latch, lifted the window and slid up the storm. I did this 14 times and opened 3 doors. 54 hours ago I spent an honest 25 minutes opening 1 (ONE) car door. It was on a van that was TOTALLY incased in ice. After what I hope was this years last poke in the ass, an all night freezing drizzle that took away all the seams and every crack on the vehicle, you actually have to scratch your way around the door with something hard enough to scrape through the ½ cm of ice, but smooth enough to not scratch the paint. You heat your key with your lighter and push it into the lock. Don’t try to turn it yet. Let it set while the heat dissipates throughout the tumbler. That was an easy one, only requiring one heating. Once inside you start the vehicle and let it idle. Turn the heater to high and go out to be sure you have air going though the grill to the fan before going back in for that 20 minute cup of coffee. After you know it’s getting better now, you can almost appreciate the unique little details of every pat of the wipers and mirrors and door handles looking like they were dipped in a polyurethane for protection. Everything looks like a piece of clear speaker cable with the two colored wires trapped inside.

That was Thursday. Today it is 46f degrees(+8c) and most all the ground is clear of snow. I can see a lot of shinny Christmas bicycles and scooters getting a try out along with an occasional rollerblader wobbling down the street. A quick excursion to the store and I pass cars, bumper to bumper like circus elephants waiting to enter the carwash big top. People with the lightest of jackets, if any, just talking to each other and seeing if it’s safe to just be standing still and still smiling.

Perhaps being an old smoker, my nose isn’t as keen as some, but the air moving through the entire house is very different than what I must have become accustomed to in the last four plus months. I think I’ll call my furnace salesman and tell him he’s full of shit. The air I just let out of my house wasn’t “like spring all year long”. He won’t really care any more than I do because we both know spring is coming.

Yep Lixy, ….. I'll miss the snowblower, but it was a long winter this year.

That’s what happened at 41 degrees north and 81 degrees west today.

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