What Happened to Spring?

I've heard of "April showers" but never of "April blizzards" before. Guess it can be pretty typical for these parts, because we find ourselves in the midst of a blizzard today. The wind's been gusting for the past week or so, and we knew something was coming our way when the communities in the region started having bad weather. It's still not quite something I was prepared for, considering last week was warm and beautiful outside. (Warm being a relative term, as it was still -20 but it felt balmy compared to our current temperature of -41 with the windchill.) We've been told that the last blizzard last year happened in June (and it lasted for 2 days), so maybe we shouldn't be too excited for spring yet...

Considering it was already a short week with Monday being a holiday, this has turned into an extra short week for us. With the winds gusting and us battling the draft from the living room windows, I am extra happy that Jeff put up our drapes a couple of days ago. It really makes such a difference in how warm it keeps the main floor.

I had gone to the grocery store yesterday before the blizzard started and picked up our necessities for the weekend, and was amazed that I was able to get a significant amount of fresh groceries for around $100 (it would normally be double that). It seems as though prices are starting to come down from the winter hike - some items are now even comparable to southern prices; milk for example, is down to $5.39 a gallon, which isn't too bad. More exciting news, the store has been stocking new/special items and produce if you look hard enough (fresh herbs, brussel sprouts, kale, cilantro, real parmigiana cheese...it makes going to the grocery store an adventure because you never know what will be there!) Also, after waiting since last Friday for a fill-up, we finally got a water truck to come by! We were in serious water lock-down mode this week while we waited, so it was nice to be able to do laundry and take a long bath yesterday instead of a super quick shower. Thankfully, this blizzard is supposed to end overnight tonight and the rest of the weekend will be practically summer (-5 tomorrow?? We'll need to dig out our shorts and t-shirts!!)

Hope you have a fantastic weekend; we're going to make the most of it and you should too!
-L