Old Records and New Records

Our snowiest season ever on record is this current season.  The record fell early last week.  For all those folks who wanted it, we now have a new record.  The problem is, we don’t know what the record will be.

We don’t know what the new record will be because it is still snowing.  Every flake that falls to the ground adds to the record.  For all those folks who focused their cosmic energy, prayed, seeded clouds, or contributed to the snowfall in other ways, the manifest sum of their energies are still directing the clouds above to bring down white stuff rather than liquid.  I [Michael] didn’t wish for this: I would rather see rain.  At this point, so would everybody else.  Unfortunately, the latent effect of all the wishes for snow has somehow manifested itself in producing more snow.  It’s as if God were reminding us to be careful what we wish for.

Soon this will all be rain.  It has to be: the sun is working north, the days are getting longer, and soon it will be too warm to snow.  That’s the way the model has always worked in the past.  Of course, that same model says that we should be drying out a little too, since we’re coming into our driest months of the year (April through June).  We are also looking at an all time record for March snowfall this year.  I don’t know if we’re close on overall precipitation for this month.

I cleared the snow off the back deck the other day.  It wasn’t too difficult once I brought the snow blower around.  The most interesting thing about the deck now is the two-foot wall of snow surrounding it: usually, the deck drops off about a foot and a half to the ground below.

Sheryl is home for Spring break this week.  We’re doing some house stuff.  I’m cleaning in the garage (which I could do all week).  The kids are doing their own things.  Actually, the kids are becoming more and more tenacious in getting our attention and directing us about to serve their wants.

Becky likes playing with Michael, but she prefers having mom or dad for playing with blocks or for pretend conversations between her dolls and figurines.  Michael brings books to us at least hourly through the day, setting in our lap and waiting for us to flip through the pages with him; if we try to ignore him he throws the book on the ground and sulks.  Alternatively, Michael takes us by the hand (or finger, or thumb) and leads us to his latest project, or to the food, or to whatever he wants us to be doing.

Becky is still seeing remarkable advances in her vocabulary, and the beginnings of cohesive sentences.  She’s using the word “not” now as well as the phrase “I don’t want…”, which enables her to express negative inclinations as well as positive ones.  Conversations are still some ways off, but the foundations are continuing to build.

Speaking of which, my attention is being requested.