February 11th, 2014

Typically our winters here go like this. It usually doesn't get below 30 until almost January, there are bits of snow here and there but they never stick around for more than a few days before things warm up and melt it all away. We rarely have to shovel sidewalks (it makes me wonder how many people actually own shovels around here) and if there are official City of Lexington snow plows I've never seen them. There is occasionally ice. In late January/early February, after the buds have appeared on the trees and my hyacinths have started peaking out of the ground, there is usually a cold snap with some snow which kills the aforementioned hyacinths. At work, this cold spell has people clamoring for warm coats, hats, and gloves, all of which have already been marked down and are all sold out.  By mid-March all is peachy keen with the world and we get to enjoy a month or two of mild temps before it gets viciously hot outside and people start complaining about the heat. 

I took this photo of Ruby playing on the playground a couple of Saturdays ago: 

and just a few days later it looked like this: 

I realize that in the grand scheme of winters, Kentucky winters are pretty wussy. I know my Canadian and Minnesota friends would kill for what we deal with! But still, I am over winter. This year has definitely been the longest, most winter-like winter that I've experienced since moving here. I've shoveled several times (one of only a few people in the neighborhood that even bother) and the bag of ice melt that's been sitting, virtually untouched for four years, is almost gone. They've canceled school ten times which has pushed the last day of school into June. I'm going to be so irritated when Ruby enters the school system...But for now I'm grateful that Ruby is in daycare because of course, it would have to be the Apocalypse before any retailers close. The main roads are clean but most side streets are still a lovely lasagna of ice, snow, ice, snow, ice, snow (thanks for the analogy, Rachel!) And let's not talk about how high my electric bill was...Gees!

It's not all bad though, really. I get to tap into my Minnesota roots, shoveling snow Like a Boss, demonstrating my stellar winter driving skillz, with windows completely scraped off, thank you. None of this half-ass crap that I see around me on the roads. Also, our lives have been full of delicious chili (which Ruby won't eat) and the Keurig has been hard at work making lots of dark roasts (for Heath) and lot of cappuccino (for me and very occasionally, Ruby), keeping us warm. Plus with no beautiful weather making me feel guilty about staying inside I have a perfectly good excuse to catch up on Breaking Bad.

Ruby doesn't seem phased by the weather whatsoever. I took her outside to play a few days ago and she was all like, "Hell yeah!" and ran around like a nut making snow angels, eating snow, and trying to find icicles to nom on. Obviously we don't have the most ideal of snow gear for her but she seemed to do fine with multiple layers and the occasional changing of wet mittens.