Sprung, Sprang, Spring

Last weekend I was in snowpants, helping carve out a quinzie and making a snow block wall with all the kids up north. We pulled sleds down the driveway and took a first and last cross-country ski run over at the park, along with our last few breaths of Winter. I miss the snow, I've missed it dearly these past few months...the smell of cold, the sound of crystals covering the ground, the peace and pace of life in dormancy... It's been drier than parts of Texas here this winter--a veritable drought--and I, for one, haven't been too happy about that. A lot of other folks around here seem to think that we're all better off when the roads are clear and skies are blue, and with all due respect, I just can't respect that position. It's a slap in the face is what it is, expecting me to say why yes, isn't this weather just grand?

After months of atypically erratic temperatures and a sincere lack of snow, we are now suffering from an unseasonably warm spell. And I'll admit it: it feels damn good. It's sixty degrees and sunny, a light breeze, no down jacket required, no jacket at all for that matter, and the abritrary re-setting of the clocks has granted us at least an hours' more time for wearing sunglasses in an appropriate fashion. People are in shorts, playing soccer, walking the dogs, riding around on bikes without fat tires and goggles, and I'm thinking about busting out my grill tomorrow. But dammit, it's just not right.

For one thing--and this might be the main thing, my one and only thing (although there is that whole climate change disaster that's going on and the methane in sea ice and the exponential feedback dynamic problem which EVERYONE should know about by now)--my peach tree is suddenly budding, as of a few days ago, and with the forecast being what it is, there's a very good chance that those sweet little buds and blossoms are going to grow and thrive quite beautifully, only to be nipped by a Spring frost... it is only March, after all!

Sigh.  I am nonetheless looking forward to pruning this weekend, in shirtsleeves, and if there's no peaches to be had this year, then I guess I'll just have to plant a bigger hill o' beans!

Anyhoo, aside from weather, here's a little something that both my dear mother and an old colleague friend of mine shared with me recently. I have to say (pun intended), this is Seriously Sweet!  

Apparently these guys have raised almost 6 MILLION dollars of the $70,000 goal set for their "Flow Hive" campaign, and it's pretty easy to see why.  This is such an brilliant design and excellent use of technology that it makes me feel proud to be a human, or something close to one. Bravo, mates, bravo.