Is Winter Over?

Did we do it? Did we get through Winter? 

I won't promise anything, but on my most reliable weather board the most active conversation is about hockey.

I brought my winter coat to the cleaners on Saturday, so yes winter is over. 

I think it might be. I'm afraid to believe it, though. I can't believe I got through February without wanting to kill myself.

Student_Council said:

......... so yes winter is over. 

Shhhhh!  Stop saying this out loud.  You'll jinx us all.

PS:  March is always fickle.  Don't trust her, ever.

April can get jealous of March, too, and through a whopper at you.

I remember one April back in the early 1980s. We'd just moved to Maplewood a year or so before and I wanted to make changes in the garden once I'd seen what had been planted. I took the first week of April off to do gardening. We had a huge snowstorm and I spent the week shoveling snow and digging paths for the dog to walk in since the snow was higher than she was tall. 

I really hope winter is over, but you never can be sure in early March.

But, with the temperatures shifting upward as the earth moves closer to the sun in both pitch and orbit trajectory, any storms we get are not likely to sit on the ground for long. I take great solace from that.

I can't believe winter is almost over and I spent less than $1,000 total on heating oil. That's a testament to a short, mild winter and cheap oil.

I am grateful for the mild winter from a snow perspective and a running perspective (agree on lower heating costs too, woohoo!). But my family has just been wrecked by illness these last few weeks. Seems "bugs" are really hanging around lately.

And, I worry about actual bugs too. This mosquito season will be the pits.

Yes, please let spring really be here. Between coxsacki, strep, and now fifth disease, not to mention all the random regular colds and runny noses, we have been stuck inside most of the winter because at any given at least one of my kids has been sick. My husband even got pneumonia this winter, thankfully the kids were spared that one.

Reading FB is has been the same, nasty illnesses from upstate New York all the way down to Florida. Ugh.  

I've heard of a lot of adult pneumonia cases this year! I wonder why?

My husband, one of my BILs, and a third adult I can't remember at the moment got it. A child my son took soccer class with over the summer got pneumonia this winter also, poor guy is only 7 years old and is otherwise healthy. 

It's so bizarre. I'm still getting over my first-ever sinus infection (going on 3 weeks) and this weekend my 6-year-old, who's had maybe 3 sick days in his life, had a weird fever/ear infection situation.

UGH.

Hopefully 70 in early March doesn't translate into 107 in early June.

Klinker said:

Hopefully 70 in early March doesn't translate into 107 in early June.

That's my worry.  Last summer was AWESOME and I would gladly go through another polar vortex winter to have another nice 80-degree summer. 

cody said:

I remember one April back in the early 1980s. We'd just moved to Maplewood a year or so before and I wanted to make changes in the garden once I'd seen what had been planted. I took the first week of April off to do gardening. We had a huge snowstorm and I spent the week shoveling snow and digging paths for the dog to walk in since the snow was higher than she was tall. 

I really hope winter is over, but you never can be sure in early March.

This!

Don't plant before mid-May!

In the mid 90's I ordered plants from a catalog. They ship based on when spring usually arrives for your area. My plants arrived in the middle of a freak ice storm, it was either late March or early April, I don't remember exactly. I called the catalog people and they said to just keep the roots wet and to plant them the first chance I had. By the time the ground was clear enough of ice and snow to plant, my plants were all moldy and I had to throw them out.  

PeggyC said:

But, with the temperatures shifting upward as the earth moves closer to the sun in both pitch and orbit trajectory, any storms we get are not likely to sit on the ground for long. I take great solace from that.

SOL-ace?

Yay! I think it's safe to return the long puffy coat I just got a few weeks ago on sale. I never wore it and thought we were going to get that deep freeze like the past 2 winters. It wasn't the coat I really wanted so I don't feel bad doing this 

Now begins my struggle for in-between shoes. It's too warm to require boots every day, but too cool for open-toed shoes. This part of my shoe wardrobe is really lacking.

TarheelsInNj said:

Now begins my struggle for in-between shoes. It's too warm to require boots every day, but too cool for open-toed shoes. This part of my shoe wardrobe is really lacking.

Just two nights ago I was wearing pumps without socks or hose. Woot!