RAIN? in January?

There's bare ground in Plattsburgh after the unusually warm spell we just had.  It's only lasted about 24 hours, but the change is dramatic.  We still have plenty of snow in Hawkeye, but I noticed on the way to work this morning that there's plenty of snow-free land in the Champlain Valley.  This used to be a big deal to me, seeing bare ground in January and February.  One year we drove through Vermont, getting to Rutland before we saw bare ground.  Now I rely on winter trips to Rhode Island for my "bare ground fix."  I'm off to RI in 2 weeks--let's hope there's no snow there, just to make me feel better.

The trip to Tupper Lake was uneventful.  I did go the long way around out of the neighborhood, thinking I might have trouble getting up hills down the road in the next county.  They're notoriously poor at road maintenance, and I didn't want to risk getting stuck.  So I took a little longer (what?  getting wise in my 60's?) but got there without incident.  I weeded all day, which is a lot of work.  Their collection needs attention but isn't as bad as I'd expected it to be.

Yesterday I didn't make it to work until nearly 11:00.  I got to the end of my road and encountered my plow man and a county snowplow, both stopped there.  Donny (plowman) told me the road was all glare ice--he had just fallen down trying to walk across the road--what Ken used to call "like a bottle."  Donny said there were cars all over the place and people couldn't make it up the smallest hills.  Say no more!  I turned around & stayed at home until the temperature rose above freezing.  It got to 40 by 10:00, so I left for Plattsburgh.  Trip was fine though the first 7 miles--which are always a winter issue--were slushy and icy.  My intrepid Civic with it's expensive snow tires, coupled with what I like to think is maturity on my part, does amazingly well in the winter.  So no incidents or scares.

It rained during the night, clearing up my deck stairs nicely.  Bare wood.  Ah, the luxury.  We had had some snow earlier in the week and I (lazily) didn't shovel, expecting the miracle of rain in January.  Was not disappointed.  It's now very windy and temps are dropping dramatically.  This should make things interesting--wet surfaces will freeze by the time I have to go home.

Treasure has some sort of problem with one of her legs--she won't use it most of the time, but because every now & then she puts weight on it I'm not worrying.  Concerned, yes, but not really worried.  She jumps on the furniture easily, runs on 3 legs apparently without minding.  I tried to find out where the problem was, but she made no sound when I explored her toes, paw, leg and shoulder.  So she remains a Drama Queen and I leave her alone.  Let's hope that's the right approach.