Winter brainstorm

I've been struggling with topics about which to blog, but figure I better get something scribed lest I betray the patience of any frustrated visitors...

The past week has been trying: nearly crippled by sickness, and driven to the edges of sanity by a lingering cough; tending to the sprained ankle of a restive puppy; trudging through the banalities of tax filing while dealing with the complex emotions provoked by ABC's The Bachelor: Season 13; plus I've been figuratively cornered all week long by the prevailing winter... and if I have a strong opinion about anything, it's that nobody puts Baby in a corner.

I need to be outside, and I need to be outside soon. On Sunday, I braved the wind long enough to butcher a few Spirea bushes as an experiment. Today is Tuesday and I've been too cold to bike to work for the past two days. The forecast promises warmer temperatures for the rest of the week and I have enough hope left in me to trust this as fact. This weekend, however, C and I will abandon Ohio to witness the wonderland that is Portland, Oregon. We'll be staying with Chris and Nolan who have shacked up in a combined effort to take over America, starting with the Pacific Northwest... I anticipate Spring will be in full effect, ahead of schedule, by the time we return such that the sun will be shining for nearly half the hours of a day, temperatures will keep above 35 degrees "eff," and flower shoots will have started peeking out of the thawed soil to welcome us home.