Winter

What happened to winter? A normal winter in Illinois calls for blowing and drifting snow. At some point the temperature has to fall to at least 10 below zero. The wind is supposed to blow and be so cold it feels like your skin is being peeled off. Everyone bundled up in their winter clothes so you can barely tell who they are and we all look like we have gained 30 pounds. This winter none of that happened. It was a year without a winter in Illinois. The snow blower was on the tractor all winter. It got used one time. It was removed yesterday and the mower deck was put back on. The weeds are already making their spring comeback and the multiflora rose stayed green all winter. You lucky souls who know nothing of multiflora rose it is the horror plant of the woods and meadows. It never gets any pretty flowers, but thorns, yes plenty of those. The thorns are hook shaped and have an outer sheath that peels off and stays under your skin festering. The canes hang down to the ground and make it almost impossible to get to the base of the plant to cut it down. It is a great place for a bird to nest because almost no predator is willing to go through the pain to get their eggs. There are plenty here on the farm to remove so it will be a bloody painful spring and summer. A good cold winter would have helped but mother nature had other plans. In Illinois the fools who try to predict the entire winter look at the "wooly worms" and other signs. They looked last fall and predicted a long and cold winter. Looking back it appears they should find another hobby as long range weather forecasting is not their strength. You would think with a warm winter it would be a long hot summer. The professional weather predictors are indicating that is not the case and the winter is not an accurate predicator of summer temperature. We will see if they do any better than the idiots who attempted last fall.
While cold weather is not something normally enjoyed in our house I must admit that I missed having a few days of the brutal weather we have come to expect here. I feel somehow cheated. Perhaps my repayment will be a summer of hellish heat and humidity.