Please read this...A glimmer of hope in the ice, snow, cold

<p class="p1">Finally. We seem to have a glimmer of light at the end of a dark, icy, snow-covered tunnel.</p><p class="p1">Early Monday afternoon, I was motoring back to The Paragraph Factory after lunch. I turned on the radio and did some station surfing. </p><p class="p1">And there it was. A sure sign that warm weather is on the way. Make that hot weather.</p><p class="p1">A Cardinals game was being broadcast. It's only spring training, but it was wonderful.</p><p class="p1">Even more signs of spring trying to make its way into our lives were spotted in the aftermath of last week's freezing rain, sleet and snow.</p><p class="p1">Two bright, yellow crocuses popped up through the snow which was melting Saturday afternoon in our front yard.</p><p class="p1">Daylight Saving Time started last weekend. I'll have to admit, though, I wasn't sure that I had ever done the "spring forward" thing while there was still snow on the ground.</p><p class="p1">The "dashboard" on my trusty laptop showed a temperature of 48 degrees at about 1 o'clock Monday afternoon. That would have been approximately 50 degrees warmer than it was last Friday morning. Time to get the lawn mower ready to go.</p><p class="p1">Since our outdoor freezer was finally thawing, The Other Half and yours truly decided to go on a bit of a road trip last Sunday afternoon. We needed to get our beat up, old pickup truck off the curb. The truck has pretty much been buried in the snow and ice since the middle of February.</p><p class="p1">Our journey pretty much amounted to letting the truck go wherever it wanted to go. We motored west on Mountain Glen Road. At one point, I commented that we hadn't seen much wildlife, except for a few birds.</p><p class="p1">I had hardly spoken the words when we spotted three deer making their way through a field where corn grew last summer. The deer scampered across the road, and headed off to do whatever deer do on a Sunday afternoon.</p><p class="p1">The drive also took us along Kaolin Road, Kratzinger Hollow Road and the State Forest Road. All in all, it wasn't a bad way to spend some time, especially after we've been cooped up for so long.</p><p class="p1">Enough about our meanderings. Hope you had a chance to get out, too. </p><p class="p1">By the way, the accompanying photographs were shot Wednesday afternoon, March 4, in the midst of what I sure hope was our last winter storm of the season.</p><p class="p1">At the time, common sense would have suggested that one stay indoors, where it was nice and warm. Instead, silly me decided to venture into the great outdoors.</p><p class="p1">Not once, mind you. Twice. The first time out, I quickly determined that a smart person would have dressed more warmly. Lesson learned, in time for the second stroll in the snow. In any case, enjoy the pics. I sure hope they are the last images of snow we see. At least until Halloween.</p>

<p class="p1">Freezing rain and various other forms of icy precipitation were falling on this little birdie early Wednesday afternoon, March 4. In light of my recent attempts to identify creatures of the feathered persuasion, I will only refer to them as birds, unless I know for sure that we are looking at a robin, cardinal or hoopoe.</p><p class="p2"> </p>