For the Record

For the record, the last bit of ice and snow has melted away in our yard today though the pond is still frozen. All week long we've had a yard-long snake of leftover ice, and our neighbor, whose yard had received what the plow dumped there from the whole circle of the cul de sac, still has a small humpback whale's worth. I've been watching the snake shrink all week long and gave the last ice some kicks today. But for now, long and hard this winter has been, we haven't even broken the record for the second-most snowiest with our 104 inches. March can still bring snow, however, as we well remember from last year when we got snow at the beginning of Wooster's spring break and had to have a farmer from our church come and plow out our driveway because we had just put the house on the market and the flood of buyers (don't we wish) needed a place to park and the illusion that the large driveway needed no upkeep. And then at the end of the break, which we spent in Holland with Jenny, west Michigan got a Good Friday storm of about 12 inches. We'll be glad to cede the records if we have no more snow. Surprisingly, we had seen no birds all winter but today a few fluttered through the back yard. Maybe spring is on the way.