Now that spring might be just around the corner, it is winter in earnest. We�ve had the late school buses that coincide with below zero weather because starting a bus is difficult in sub-zero weather. We�ve had snow yesterday and snow tomorrow and even snow today. We�ve had the gray skies and slippery streets. We�ve had the beauty of the fluff and the slip-sliding around the turn. I�ve had the hot chocolate and now all I want to do is put on flannel pajamas, grab a fleece blanket, and sleep by a fire.

Unfortunately, however, I have miles to go before I sleep. I still have to make dinner. I still have to be the homework witch. I still have to change beds and do laundry. I still have to make a few campaign calls. But I look out the back window and see pristine snow piled up. I see the snow and think cold. I see the snow and think blanket. And then I hear my bed calling me. �Come for just a little while,� it beckons. �You�ll be cozy and warm.�

I�m not listening. Hibernating season passed. The snow outside is no more a sign of real hibernating season than the warm weather last weekend was a sign of real spring, no matter how much the confused daffodils might have been trying to push up above the dirt. Once a season is gone, it�s gone. Only television life allows for re-runs.

The weird weather this winter has confused too many Wisconsin folks already. When the cold and snows came this past weekend, you would have thought that the people around with thin-blooded southerners. They were afraid to drive. They didn�t remember how to bundle up. They stayed inside instead of venturing forth no matter what. The candidates� forum last night attracted only twelve people. The forum�s never had such an abysmal turn-out but we had some flurries just as people should have gotten into their cars to come and they didn�t come.

No, sudden blast of winter, you can�t fool me. You�re here for a while but you are on your way out. They�re saying it will be 45 degrees and rainy on Friday and all the snow will go. You are not a winter storm. You do not come and linger. You are an early spring storm�the type that hits and runs. You are the weather equivalent of the one-night stand, not the steady relationship of a normal January. There�s a factual basis for the notion that if you don�t like midwestern weather you should just wait around a spell.

So, I won�t succumb to the lure of a warm bed or glowing fire. I know my mind is just playing tricks. It�s not time to sleep. It�s time to forage for food and look to children. I just wish someone would explain the situation to something other than my brain.

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