Sitting at the computer Saturday morning, looking out the 2nd story front windows, I watched the freezing fog roll in. Was thinking about the weather we've had this winter. An announcement on the Friday news said 49 of the 50 states had measurable snowfall, with only Hawaii not reporting. That's pretty strange, because the mountain peaks on the big Island were on that day unusually, freakishly, devoid of snow.

The government in DC was closed down for more than a week. Baltimore despairs of ever seeing the grass again. Mud slides in CA play havoc more than the norm with both traffic and homes. My poor friends in MA and NH and VT were days without power, along with more Texans than the visiting crews from OK and LA and AR could handle in less than a week.

The snowdrifts in my back yard were 16 inches deep, with a 13-inch layer solid across the rest. The only parts of puppy that could be seen when he went on patrol were his ears; quite freaky, that, to see a disembodied head popping up now and then across the landscape.

Today, a week later, there's still a line of snow out there, by the fence, where the sun doesn't reach, and a solitary clump in the street by the mailbox, distinctly gray in color, that probably fell off a car as it drove by. But it appears it ain't over yet. The weather forecasts for next week show a "wintry mix" in store for us.

I think next year, on February 1, someone should shoot that bloomin' groundhog.