Winter: Not dead yet

---by Micheal

One of my favorite scenes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, is the spoof on the Black Plague. For those of you not as intimately familiar with the movie, this is where Eric Idle is pushing a cart of "bodies" through the muddy village streets calling out "Bring out yer dead!" At this call, John Cleese comes out with an old man over his shoulder. "Got one for you." At this, the old man says, "But I'm not dead." Cleese scolds the old man. "Oh shut up. You will be in a minute." The old man protests again. "I'm feeling bettah. I think I'll go for a walk..." Cleese scolds again, "You're not fooling anyone..."

I was thinking of this scene when I was snow blowing off my driveway -- again -- after last Sunday's snow storm. Last year, we had no snow until late January. People who promote the dire scenario of global warming were quick to point to 2007's brown January as proof of doom to come. (Though I'm not sure how not having to snow-blow figures into doom.) This winter, we've got 17 inches of snow on the back deck, and it's not even officially winter yet.

This year, it's like winter, slung over shoulder of the global warming alarmists, is protesting, "But, I'm not dead." The alarmists are probably parroting Cleese by saying "You're not fooling anyone." But, to my eye, winter seems particularly healthy this year. Not at all ready for the "dead" cart of climate doom.

I know some of my snow-hating friends won't appreciate this, but I'm kind of glad to see the snow. Oh sure, it's not fun to drive in, but NOT leaving myself 5 minutes to get someplace and driving 100 miles per hour seems to have mitigated that problem. On the plus side, my raspberry bushes and perennials have a nice insulating layer of snow on them, so the frost won't kill the roots. And, the landscape looks Currier & Ives picturesque. We're getting the much sung-about white Christmas! The kid in me thinks that's pretty cool.

I think it's nice to see a good ol' fashioned winter again. But you know, if things do warm up over the years to where snowy winters live only in grandpa stories, that's okay too. I'll try my hand at growing oranges. Change need not automatically be bad.

However, I won't spend any time worrying over where I'll plant those orange trees. Winter has reminded us all that he's not quite dead yet.