Sunny
30 degrees and breezy



I imagine our groundhog (Sun Prairie Jimmy) saw his or her shadow this morning. Now why a nice sunny day means 6 more weeks of winter, I could never figure out. Any way you slice it, we almost always have 6 more weeks of winter from Feb. 2nd. I don't remember a year when real Spring was here by the middle of March. And by real Spring, I mean milder temps and no more snow. Heck, our 50% last frost date is May 1st.

However! I am here to trumpet good news to all of us who are really getting sick of this cold weather and want it over! I have it on good authority that Spring will come early this year, and this aint from the beady eyes of a large rodent. No! I learned something new the other day and friends, I am going to share it with you now.

We are going to have an early Spring, because the clothes buyers for the department stores say we are! No, really! I was in the shop getting my hair cut the other day, and chatting with my pal Rachel. We all know haircutters are a font of knowledge. Well, Rachel has a client who is a buyer for one of the major department stores. Her buyer informant told her that they watch long term forecasts and get as much inside weather information and analysis as they can, so as to try and time the launch of seasonal clothing rightly. (This was a shocking development to me - who knew to find out the weather, you asked a clothes buyer???)

And her store is putting out the Spring clothes earlier than usual this year, because they believe Spring should be arriving in this part of the world about the end of March. Thank goodness, because I just don't know how long I can make do with these old peddle pushers - I need new!

Like I said, this new source of climatic trivia delighted me. Now, in case the power goes out and I can no longer get Bob Lindmeier on the teevee to tell me what the weather is, I can just go ask any nearby department store decision-maker. They are everywhere, which is evidenced by the soaring unenployment rates these days. I hope they keep up with the forecasts even if they don't have to go in to work every day. I'd like to know how many tornadoes to expect this year, and also the chances of drought.

Since Karen and I are going to be raising more of our own food, we will be more directly impacted by droughts or other severe weather. So to that end, we are gonna be putting a few rain barrels on the barns and house to water the garden from. I do think that the weather patterns are getting worse. More, stronger storms and more frequent cycles of drought/flooding. Speaking of, the central valley of California has been hit by another severe drought, and some farmers there are just not planting this Spring because they wont be able to keep their crops alive without the water. Most of the lettuce and melons in the grocery stores come from there, as well as almonds, etc. Keep buying local, people. It keeps the smaller farmers near you in business, and you are gonna need them a lot more than you do now someday soon.

Better yet, plan to put in your own backyard veggie garden. USDA forecasts prices of fresh vegetables and fruits to rise as much as 30-40% this year.