Spokane winter this year.

[Mounty]

I gave up on shoveling. Just let it pile up. Hopefully it's not going to get much higher. March is almost here.

[Steven Schneider]

And Yet, You Smile

Does a clear moonlit winter night make you feel
so alive because it could kill you quickly?
Did it take reading Jack London in junior high
to plant that thought of danger, of life hinging
on one last match, that makes you wonder
at the exhilaration that you feel? Is that what
makes Pooh Bear love his Blustery Day,
because Piglet and Roo might actually be blown away?
Tigger, Eeyore and even Owl feel it and the
Weather Channel shows miracles of survival every day
between the forecasting of even more disasters;
tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes, hurricanes,
floods, global warming, rising sea levels,
matter-anti-matter collisions and asteroids.
Then there is the improbability of flying machines
and driving on the freeway, of tv’s that you were sure
could not possibly work even before they were flat,
of being alive at all in this moment,
in this universe, in this lifetime, as a sentient being,
able to learn the truth of the Dharma, the Good News,
the Qur’an; of Krishna, Ahura Mazda;
The Great Wheel Of Life and Fortune.
But, a change in the weather, of the barometric pressure;
the air that freezes your nose hairs
and the wind chill that makes you gasp,
but you turn into it so you can really feel it
suck the breath out of you;
do these shake your philosophy as well?
Perhaps your brain remembers the animal feeling
of fight or flight emanating from the very world
that is ready to make your life even more fleeting.
Is this what Pooh feels more directly that makes him
live in the moment of honey sweetness for all it’s worth?
In your Blustery Day, your night of crystal needle sharpness,
taking out the trash, do you feel that moment
when you shiver with life and turn slowly
to the fluorescent glow of your electronic hearth
and stop and wait until you can just barely stand it?
Do you glance at infinity for one more second before
the absurdity of your warm bed and spouse fades
and you are convinced, at least one more time, that there is
nothing remarkable about that moment,
and yet, you smile?

[Yeledaf]

It is so cold here in Spokane this morning. The sun will barely rise above the southern horizon, and give the sky a quick brush of pale orange for seven hours or so before dipping back down at four o'clock this afternoon. The ducks' voices sounded chilled in the park when I passed them; but even the partially iced-in river couldn't stop the loons from diving underwater on their fishing expeditions: a quick dunk! and the vanishing paddle of their pale-orange feet as they forced themselves deeper and deeper and finally disappeared beneath the icy surface, only to reappear some yards away, shaking their heads quickly and bobbing back to the surface, their feathers gleaming feebly in the pale early morning sunlight. The other ducks, the blueheads and woods, even the Canada geese, looked on in amazement as their submarining cousins dived again and again seeking the elusive fish who wintered deep beneath the surface of the steel-dark river, holding within them the memory of what it was that their ancestors sought when they swam from the mighty Columbia to this smaller stream eons ago when the humans were scattered in tribes along the banks here and there, striking at them with sharpened poles and taking only what they needed from the multitudes of sockeye, cutthroat, and giant century-old sturgeon who remembered in their genes the bursting of the great ice-dam in the east that created the rivers and sweetened the seas with life...

[mistyriver]

My nose is red
My toes are blue
More snow tonight
This is bullpoo.

[Yeledaf]

I silently curse
As it falls from the sky
This crap’s gettin old
But hey so am I

[elkotronics]

Come on down to the desert southwest, Yeledaf! It's sunny out right now - as it usually is - it's 48 degrees here in Alamogordo, but feels like it's 39 degrees. Due to the 33 mph winds going on!

[rumi79]

I am vicariously living through you and so envious for your snow, that I am contemplating a quick spring break trip with the kids so we can catch the Free Toyota Skiing at 49 Degrees North.

[pnwguy2]

It has been a strange winter for sure. It started mild, with little snow and cold until February. Then all hell breaks loose, not only in Spokane, but in most of Eastern Washington. Even here in March, temps are still below the seasonal norm.

Extreme Weather. It is happening, and I believe it is part of climate-change. But to avoid that argument, I will report that there are new records being set in Eastern WA. Spokane has been below normal now for 6 weeks, and Southcentral WA has a new record for March snowfall, and a new record for snowfall on the ground this late in the season. Global warming isn't the issue, climate change is. But they all come together at the end of the day.