We really could use the spring sun today to shine a bright side for us. We’ve been blizzarded again!
Innitially, this was another grand adventure. Andy wasn’t home. Daniel and I were great and powerful snow movers. The green truck threatened to get stuck and slid in the mud beneath the heavy snow, but I was the master.
Eventually I grew a little overconfident, planning to just clean up a spot I hadn’t been before, and I hung up the plow unit on a pile of crusted snow right outside the outfitting door. So I shoveled, blew and chiseled snow, I piled sand under the tires. I rocked it, but mostly I spun until I buried the tires in the soft mud.

Finally as Denali and I sat down to study the thing, I began to imagine climate change in reverse. What if we already had our little taste of spring? What if we just jumped right back into November? Don’t misunderstand me—I love winter. Yet this thought made my heart sink. I know it isn’t true, but November is starting to feel just over the horizon… I am so very ready to rake and shlep the Kevlar canoes back to their spots, and wash windows until very late in the day. I was planning for the spring season and somebody shook the snow globe up on me again!
I remember when my kids were really little and we learned to gentle transitions by warning them well ahead of time what was coming. If I thought it would do any good, I might have thrown a tantrum right on the spot. The dog witnessed all the cursing I had within me, until I finally had to scold myself—ENOUGH ALREADY. And left the plow until morning—when Andy could join me to chip out the wheels from the (now frozen) mud—really the biggest bonus of being an outfitter is that there is always another truck to hook up and pop out the stuck vehicles.

I’m waching Casper the pine martin at the bird feeder. I’m no expert on these things, but it might be time to change her name to Casperilla. She definitely looks thicker in the middle, and maybe she is pregnant. Maybe this is why she comes knocking
—trying to push in every door, popping all the garbage can lids when the feeder runs empty. This may be the proof of spring that I need to go tackle the day.