Yup...another pic of a pileated woodpecker. The photographer just finds them to be fascinating birds. This one was seen last week in Union County.Until spring “officially” arrives, maybe it will just be better to deal with the weather like these two Canada geese were doing in light rain which was falling Thursday afternoon, March 9, at the Lincoln Memorial Picnic Grounds in Jonesboro.

Mother Nature is playing tricks on us...

Please read this...

After getting home from another exciting day of editing copy, generating a couple of actual stories and taking a few photographs, I suggested to The Other Half on Monday evening that it might be good to check the calendar.

Given how some of the events of the day had unfolded, I was starting to think that April 1, also known as April Fool’s Day, had arrived a couple of weeks early.

She assured me that it’s still March...

...but I’m still a few doubts about that...

After all, Daylight Saving Time is here. That means it’s time for summer. Warm breezes while I’m sitting on the front porch. Humidity. Mosquitoes and other buzzing, irritating winged insects.

And there was another sign this week that it’s supposed to “warm.”

The U.S. Forest Service announced Monday that Snake Road near Wolf Lake would be closed starting March 15. The closing is scheduled to continue through May 15.

The road has been closed to allow snakes and amphibians to migrate from their winter habitat in limestone bluffs in the LaRue-Pine Hills area to their summer homes in the nearby LaRue Swamp. See. Snakes and amphibians think its supposed to be warm, too. 

After finishing up at The Paragraph Factory on Monday, I headed home by way of the Anna City Park. 

A high school baseball game was scheduled at the park Monday afternoon. I figured that since it felt like January, the game might not have been played.

Wrong.

The boys of summer were indeed playing some ball. I got out of the car and headed in the direction of Kiwanis Field, where the game was underway, with a goal of taking a few photographs of the action.

I immediately noticed a couple of things. The game was being played on a rather “brisk” March afternoon, under a cloudy sky. Actually, it was just plain, old c-o-l-d. 

Most noticeable, however, was the wind. Our new and ever-present friend. The wind blowing Monday afternoon was just gosh darn c-o-l-d, too. Hurt the photographer’s fingers while he’s trying to use his camera c-o-l-d. Why am I out here c-o-l-d?   

Coats appeared to be much in fashion among the hardy fans who were brave enough to watch the game. Coats. Baseball. Just didn’t seem right. 

Well, I took photographs until my fingers stopped functioning. I headed back to the car and plugged frozen digits into the defrost. 

By the time I got home, all of my finger seemed to be functioning properly once again. I used them to check out weather conditions with a search on my trusty, but aging, laptop. 

The website for the National Weather Service office in Paducah showed that at about the time I was at the ball game at the park in Anna, the temperature was a balmy 34 degrees. And with the March breeze that was blowing, the wind chill was 26 degrees.

Baseball. 34 degrees. Wind chill of 26 degrees. You see why I thought Mother Nature might have been playing an April Fool’s Day trick on us.

And to make matters a bit more confusing, there are flowers everywhere. 

Mother Nature might not be done with us, either. 

Widespread frost and a low temperature around 26 were in the forecast for Tuesday night.

We get a bit of a break today, when the high is expected to be around 61, which will seem almost hot.

Come Friday, and it gets cold again, with a low around 26. Things get even “funner” Saturday night, when the low is going to be around 23, followed by a low around 25 Sunday.

Oh, almost forgot to mention the winds...

Gusts up to around 39 miles per hour today, 33 miles per hour on Friday, 31 miles per hour on Saturday and just 20 miles per hour on Sunday.

I know...it’s pretty much pointless to whine about the weather. At least we’re not having to deal with 12 feet of snow and atmospheric rivers.

I’m going to take heart. Spring starts next week. Things will be better. Right?

The Gazette-Democrat

112 Lafayette St.
Anna, Illinois 62906
Office Number: (618) 833-2158
Email: news@annanews.com

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