This post has had a strange history. I wrote most of it offline last week and was at the point where all I had to do was final proofing and inserting the photos where appropriate.
But I hadn’t inserted photos at Efx3 yet, and it took me a while to learn how. Also, the end of last week got to be very busy. Then … fate took a strange turn.
First, here is the original version …
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It’s really spring here. We started last week with highs in the low 30s and a cold wind out of the north. But it gradually got better. Late in the week, we reached the mid 40s, and we got to the low 50s over the weekend. This week–more 50s and maybe even the low 60s. Then it’s going to get colder just in time for our trip.
The recent warmth has done a lot to finish off nearly all the final remnants of the former mountains of snow where the plow piled it all up during the winter. Doesn’t look so imposing now …
The forecast for this week calls for a constant run of sunny weather. That’s nice, but notice how brown the grass is. We could really use some rain, and it’s not in the forecast. That leads to more problems than dry vegetation.
In a word: grit. All winter, the city and county trucks have been dumping sand on all the snow and ice and slush on the local roads. Now, with nearly all the snow melted away, the sand and grit is all that’s left of our snowbanks. That stuff doesn’t melt, and there hasn’t been rain to wash it away. This is the sidewalk near our house, looking down the street …
But there’s not as much sand 0n the sidewalk now. My wife devoted much of Monday afternoon to sweeping it into piles and putting it onto the street by the curb. That way, she explains, when the street sweepers come along, away goes the sand. Besides, the city and county trucks are responsible for most of the stuff, so it is going back where it came from. Return to sender.
She is getting busy with other things, too. Her little kitchen plantation is doing very well. See for yourself …
In time, if everything goes right, this is what we will have near the clotheslines this summmer …
… oodles of morning glories, like these from 2007.
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But I didn’t get the photo links set up before our trip. It was 74 degrees when we left Oshkosh Saturday afternoon. T-shirt weather. It was 49 by the time we got home that evening. Spring jacket weather.
Sunday, temperatures were in the 40s and getting windy. A cold wind from the north. Around bedtime, it started snowing. Snowing & Blowing, a familiar wintertime combination. Except it was April 20.
Snowing & Blowing kept on doing their thing all day Monday and picked up the pace after dark. On Tuesday morning, here was the view from the back porch …
The lilac bush next door had a heavy coating of white …
I really didn’t want to do it, but I had no choice. I put on the heavy boots, picked up the heavy aluminum shovel and went to work .
And once I finished that, I trudged through the extremely wet snow to work …
We got roughly 10 inches of snow here, and other places in the U.P. got around 20 inches. Heavy, wet, “heart attack” snow. But it won’t stay around long. The sun finally broke through the clouds today, and we reached the low 40s this afternoon. On Thursday, the high is supposed to be 63. On Friday, we’re forecast for 75 degrees, along with rain and thundershowers. Next week, highs back in the 40s.
What can I say? Springtime in the U.P.
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