You Were Caught In The Crossfire

It. Is. Fucking. COLD.

ForecastFox is telling me that it's 12 degrees outside. DAMN. It's the coldest day of a young 2008 so far, and if you ask my muscles (which are still tense from being out there and shivering so damned much), it's easily the coldest day of the winter as a whole. Granted, officially, winter is only about three weeks old, but this frigid-ass weather has been going on for long enough. Mother Nature needs to get her shit together.

This morning, though, she managed to give me a sign that she's still got some tricks up her green sleeves. I had to go to Weis on a mission to buy some milk for The Bear, and after I'd finished my lengthy trip around the store, I checked out and headed for the doors to trek back out into what can only be described as shirtsleeve weather in Anchorage. But when I walked out the door, I noticed that it was snowing.

It wasn't the big, fat, wet-ass snow we've been used to seeing lately. It was more like the fine, powdery snow that skiers like myself love to see, with a twist: If any of you watched the ball drop Monday night, you saw confetti out the yin-yang floating freely above Times Square. Well, the snow was coming down like that, and reflected in the sliver of sunlight shining down on the market's parking lot, was transformed into a transleucent crystal blanket of diamonds, slowly floating towards the pavement below.

For a second, I forgot how cold it was, but then I was quickly reminded that I'd become a dudecicle if I stood there like a gawking oaf for much longer, so I shook the sparkles from my eyes and made my way to the Explorer. But, for that little moment, I was reminded that Mother Nature can still look good at times, even when she's PMSing.

Might be time to dust off the ol' skis and head over to Tussey Mountain for a trip down the hills. Just another reason they call it Happy Valley...