Winter Games

Winter is a cat.  Of course, I would be able to find a similarity between anything and a cat if I tried, but in this scenario, I think it really is a suitable analogy.  First, it sneaks up on you out of nowhere and pounces with great ferocity.  While you're still reeling from the attack, it runs back in the bushes and hides out for a while.  Then, when you've decided it has given up and gone home, it sneaks out and smacks you on it's way back into some other bushes to hide.  It's like we are winter's mice and it's going to tease and play with us until we don't know if it's coming or going and give up in exhaustion.  I know that seems a little dark, but hey, so is winter (pardon the pun).

If we're talking about sunlight, winter is in full-swing.  I'm already apologizing to the sun for all of the negative thoughts I had this summer and am begging it to return early.  However, if you're just looking at the weather, it either doesn't know if it's coming or going, or is playing a very vicious game of cat and mouse.  Our fall temperatures lasted far longer than normal.  We were somewhere around a month behind Doniphan getting the first frost of the season.  But, when the frost came, it pounced and brought really cold temperatures all at once.  There was no gentle transition from fall to winter, just a "Bam! Here I am! What do you think of that?!"  We had highs in the low 30s with high winds making it feel even colder for about a week, and then it was back to the upper 40s like that frigid week never happened.  Then, it crept in and dropped a baby snow on us early in the evening.  It was big wet flakes that only built up because it came down so heavily.  By morning the temperatures were up and there was absolutely no trace of any snow left.  (There wasn't any trace left on my porch as soon as it stopped snowing because I scooped it all into a bucket to melt so that I would have water - but that's a very long, yet to be finished story.)  Now we are back in the 40s hanging out like nothing ever happened while Missouri got tons of snow!!!  This is not fair.  I'm not sure who I need to lodge a complaint with about this cruel irony, but I will have a strongly worded letter waiting once I figure out where to send it.  I wonder what Terry Wood is up to these days?  He may be a good place to start.