I guess I felt like hibernating.

It’s all very “chestnuts roasting and how about some cocoa” until the tire valves contract enough to deflate your ride, and the daytime temperatures are warmer in Alaska than Madison, WI, and even the squirrels take a day off from rummaging in the banquet that is the dumpster at the end of my parking lot.  When the meteorologists throw around the word “arctic” with scientific accuracy, nobody with any sense does much of anything.  And it is not fun.

Frosty branches like these don’t form in an arctic blast.  It took a succulent winter humidity, clinging to all the branches and a sudden, but not too deep cooling.  The wind, on the other hand, can be as cold as it wants, whenever it wants, and no one and nothing can stop it.

Anyway, I missed you, and spring is almost near.