Opinion

Weather note: This column was completed very early in the morning March 30, before the author realized that just up the road, there was a serious ice storm.

We celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary last Friday, March 21. It’s hard to believe 10 years have passed since we walked down the aisle. Time seems to have flown by, and yet, when I look back, it feels like a lifetime ago.

The snow packed down by snowshoes was the last to melt and fade into the yellow-gray lawn north of the house we rent. Deep pockets of snow are likely yet found 50 miles (80 kilometers) or so northwest, where the National Weather Service station near Gaylord recorded snowfall this year exceeding any other on the books.

As we get deeper into March, I am pleased to see the snow receding and I am enjoying the gentler weather. Even so, I was happy to see a few days of freezing temperatures at the end of last week. Spring may be the season for deep housecleaning, but there is one chore which is easier to do when it’s very cold.

I just watched a video on the weather channel about making your own windshield washer fluid for your car. It is cost-effective and seems simple. You simply add four cups of water, half a cup of rubbing alcohol (to keep the mixture from freezing), a tablespoon of dishwashing liquid, and a few drops of blue dye (which is obviously optional).

Working on President’s Day was preferable to taking the day off given Tuesday’s looming production deadlines. Instead, a Friday would afford daylight hours to explore a recreational trail in another aspect.

I have a correction to make. In my New Year’s column, “Easing into hibernation,” I shared an anecdote from “The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love” by Kristin Kimball. I borrowed the book from the library and read it years ago. I didn’t have the book in my house, so when I described a scene from the book, “They scrounged around in the snow and found enough tender, young dandelion greens to make a salad,” I was relying on memory.

Life never asks for permission before it shifts. One day, everything feels steady, predictable, familiar. The next, you’re standing in the middle of change you never saw coming, or worse, change you saw coming but didn’t want to face.

My new year’s resolution this year is to do better, regardless of conditions. This is not as straightforward as dropping a few pounds. It will be tricky to track and the math will be fuzzy.