of weather gremlins and bureaucrats

Spring is all about firsts and lasts. The first flower. The first wildland fire. The first drumming grouse which foreshadows the first family of chicks to parade across your backyard. The first mosquito that you smack before she gets her first meal to start her first family.

The firsts are easy to define. The lasts aren't. You aren't ever quite sure which frost is the last. Or which snowfall. You always hope it was that dump you got in March, but you know from experience that it will snow in April and May too. Except this year, when the last snowfall came a week too early to qualify as the March Lion, and April has been as dry as August in Arabia. You can never tell though . . . snowstorms have a way of appearing out of thin air when you least expect them, especially in the spring.

One way to hasten the last snowfall is to put all of the mitts, boots, scarves, toques, and winter coats into their neat, tidy tubs, and store them deep in the crawl space under the house. We did that last weekend, and for good measure, I took the snow tires off the car and stored the snow shovels away. That's a sure way to flush out that last-minute blizzard that the weather gremlins are hiding away as a nasty spring surprise. Stay tuned, it's coming.

Last year I was still complaining about snow in the middle of May. By the third week of May, things were looking like they are right now in the last week of April. Maybe this is the year that Upsala will grow pineapples.


On May 2nd last year, I had an epic struggle with bureaucracy (nothing to do with weather gremlins and snowstorms, but bloggers are allowed to stray off topic). The great thing about the struggle was that I won, in true David vs Goliath style. Click here to read the exciting story.

Speaking of bureaucracy, that bane of fire chiefly existence came through again, and saved me from being topic-less a week before the deadline for my next CFF article. This time I wrestled the monster in its litigation disguise. Someone (I think Pittgirl) once said it helps to get slightly drunk before writing an article. I've never been drunk (contrary to what Andrew and Graham say) so I don't know if it works, but a few glasses of wine may have been helpful for this one.