>I realize that Rocky claims I can't feel cold.

It's not just you. I'm the Ice Queen of this family (hey! no jokes!). I'm cold all the time, and even *I* think it's nice out. I took Nerd Hound out this morning in my jammies and bare feet.

Oh, and Avindair's bestest friend, who works for the um... some kind of climatological institute (okay - so I can't remember the name of it)... in Colorado, emphatically states that YES the climate is changing.

We're short 13 inches of snow right now. I mean, I'm not going to complain too much - the kids were able to rake the yard last weekend - but what the hell?

When I was a kid in central Minnesota, it snowed every Halloween night, and the snow stayed until spring. This hasn't happened in at least the last 5 years or so (sorry...didn't mark it on the calendar, so I don't know exactly when the change began). The snow is coming later and later.

Black ice in the parking lot at work this morning.

You know, I'm quite okay with it being warm enough for rain and not having snow and all that. It's not quite humpmonth, and all the better for not having to shovel or play with space heaters.

It will get cold. And there will be snow. This *is* minnesota.

There was ice on the roads today, too. But my deck was wet this morning, and it obviously did not get cold enough to freeze it last night.

But there was definatly ice on the roads, as I discovered when I took the kids to the bus stop after I made this post. Still, I didn't need a jacket.

If you know where we are in the sunspot cycle, it's even more dramatic - 2001 was what should have been the warmest spot in the cycle; 5 years later puts us almost halfway to the next one, meaning that right now should be the *coldest*. It amazes me how ignorant know-nothings love to deny facts.