Tease

Perhaps you have noticed that all the people who live in the normally frozen wastelands of the United States at this time of year are jumping online to proclaim from the rooftops the unseasonably warm weather? You can add me to that list.

Even here, in the Great White North, it is crazy, CRAZY warm. When we left for Arizona on February 18, it was 24 degrees and there were two feet of snow on the ground. When we got back the following Friday, the snow was almost gone and it was warmer at our house than at my parents' house in Tucson.

Say what?

The day after we got home, it was so warm I actually opened up the windows in the house.

It was a nice re-entry for the children, who I think were relieved they could go out to play without trussing themselves up like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. Nobody likes that, especially me, because I still have to do much of the trussing for them.

It's supposed to be below zero this weekend, with several inches of snow on Monday, so it's a temporary reprieve. But it is a reminder that spring is on the way.

These goobers are ready*.

* In case the saguaro cacti in the background don't give it away, this photo was taken on the roof of my parents' house in Tucson. One of my dad's favorite stories from our visit was when he took the kids up there to look at the mountains and Cubby said,"Wow, there sure are a lot of houses here." You must understand that this is one of the least-populated neighborhoods in the entire Tucson metro area. But I guess to a country mouse from the northwoods, it looks crowded.