On Space, and time, and snowstorms

I am not sure what happened. I believe it could have been a hole in the space-time continuum, centered around the geographically important Minnesota State Fairgrounds, and radiating out in a galaxy-like whirlpool at 25 degrees diagonal to the x-axis (that being 794 feet above sea-level). Suddenly it is March the thirteenth, at 9:25 PM, and I feel as though I’ve just woken from a somewhat foggy dream happening in fast forward. Or I just could have been insanely busy.

In either case, I have taken the time to sit down at my desk in the corner of my blue bedroom, with my sun-light on and the wind howling mournfully outside, to write this post. March has, in typical fashion, gifted us with our ‘spring’ snowstorm. This occurs every year around this time. My mother has a friend, who for as long as she has been alive, states there has been a snowstorm within 7 days of her birthday. My mother shared this fact with me a few years back…I believe I was in high school…and I’ve half-heartedly kept track since that time. Going on 8 years now and I believe that we’ve always had a storm wherever I’ve been at this time of year. Today was no exception.

Last week it was in the 50’s, shirt sleeves weather. Today and this week will be in the 30’s. There is also a rather astounding amount of snow on the ground. I believe the weatherperson stated that this was our largest snowstorm of the season. (This, by the way, is rather disappointing being that I live in Minnesota, and the upper-Midwest should have snowstorms of more than a foot.) Really, I expected more out of winter when I moved here for school. I desired enough snow to have snow-days from school, and build snowmen, and go tobogganing, but the last 7 winters have been rather disappointing. It snowed all through the night and I woke to a few inches on the ground. I slept an hour or two more, and there were quite a few more inches on the ground. I shoveled the snow this late-morning, and lifted anywhere from 1 to 18 inches – depending on drifting. It wasn’t a fun type of snow, either. It was water/slush on the bottom, followed by packy snow, followed by powdery stuff. The bottom stuff insisted on sticking to my shovel and trying to shovel me with the snow, and the top stuff blew everywhere - into my eyes, down my jacket and caked into my hair.

The last week was spent house and dog sitting for some friends. I do enjoy doing it, because the dogs are wonderful, and the house has a hot tub for my use while I’m there. They also have cable TV – a luxury I’ve never had in my home. I discovered something wonderful this time, I am no longer allergic to their dogs. This doesn’t mean that I’m not allergic to any dogs, but it’s a step in the right direction. I hope it means I’m starting to ‘grow’ out of my myriad allergies, everything from pets, to plants, to molds and dusts, but I’m not going to hold my breath. One, because holding one’s breath is an exercise in futility, and two, because I really will have to wait until allergy season hits full-on to determine if they are worse or better than previous years.

My project moves towards its completion, slowly, lumberously, perilously? I’m not sure about the lumbering or the perilous part, but like Sir Galahad, I believe I can handle a little peril. I am on the last edit of my Abstract for the poster session at the national conference in May, and hope to send that off tomorrow morning. Then it’s off to Chicago Wednesday – Friday for some spring break action. I plan on seeing the Pompeii exhibit at the field museum, perhaps doing a cruise of the river, and maybe going to the Aquarium as well. Karin will be accompanying me and I’m sure we’ll find something entertaining to do.

So, hopefully any and all space-time warps have been minimized and I’ll be able to find more time to post to this wonderful web space, but as space in generally (as well as time) can be tricksy.