Mke Pound: The secret to riding out February

Local News

Discussion

February 8, 2010

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Mon Feb 08, 2010, 08:53 PM CST

And now the waiting begins.

Every year, on the day after the Super Bowl, I start waiting for spring. I don’t know why the end of the football season gets me focused on spring, but it does.

Every year when the last whistle has blown and the last Super Bowl commercial has played (by the way, can anybody explain to me what the deal was with that Dockers commercial?), I turn off the TV and look outside to see if the trees are budding.

They never are.

I guess, for me, the end of the football season represents a wrap on winter. Sure, basketball — technically — is a winter sport, but I just don’t think of it that way. Maybe because basketball is played indoors while football, for the most part, is not.

Maybe the end of the football season causes me to develop a serious case of spring fever because it comes in February. I know that spring officially begins sometime in March, but February is when all the spring heavy lifting is done. February is the month when Mother Nature will mess with us and every so often draw up a string of springlike weather. One day I’ll be shoveling snow off my sidewalk, and the next day I’ll be on a leisurely walk through our neighborhood with my family.

To me, there is nothing better than a surprise springlike day in February. A surprise springlike day in February makes me think that spring really is just around the corner. A surprise springlike day makes me grab the leash and take our German shepherd, Shilo, for a walk. Shilo loves to go on walks but, sadly, during the winter Shilo doesn’t get many walks. But, when the weather turns and I don’t have to spend 10 minutes bundling up before grabbing the leash, Shilo and I go on lots of walks.

Of course, there also is nothing more frustrating than a surprise springlike day in February. A surprise springlike day can make a guy think that spring is not just around the corner but actually here. A surprise springlike day in February can make a guy think about putting the snow shovel back in the shed. A surprise springlike day in February can make a guy want to clean out the three-season porch and fire up the charcoal grill. A surprise springlike day can make a guy zip through the TV channels, hoping to find a major league baseball game.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature, as she is wont (it’s a word; I looked it up) to do, will follow up a surprise springlike day with a surprise blizzard. As I’ve said many times before, Mother Nature has a somewhat sick sense of humor.

The secret to making it through February is to look at each passing day, regardless of what Mother Nature opts to do, as getting us one day closer to the real spring. If Mother Nature decides to drop 10 inches of snow on you, just smile and say, “Hey, it’s February. It’s supposed to snow in February.”

If Mother Nature decides on sunny skies and 70-degree temperatures, well, that’s just gravy. But accept the surprise springlike day as the gift that it is and move on. By all means, enjoy the surprise springlike day, but don’t put the sweaters away and pull out the shorts.

In short: Be patient.

You can’t hurry February along. You can’t march February into March. February has its own calendar. Really, for being the shortest month of the year, February is a long month. But, like an episode of “Dancing with the Stars,” even February eventually comes to an end.

So last night, after I turned off the TV and looked out the window for signs of spring that weren’t there, I put away my thoughts of sunny skies and baseball for a while.

Instead, I tried to figure out what in the heck those Dockers folks were thinking.

Text Only

Local News

Water company cites reconnections
The May 22 tornado has caused a dramatic drop in water usage for the Missouri American Water Co., but things are starting to turn around — one reconnection at a time.

February 10, 2012 1 Photo
Survivor of ’78 Connor collapse dead at age 64
A big story in the history of Joplin was the 1978 collapse of the Connor Hotel at Fourth and Main streets. Alfred Summers, the man at the heart of that story, died at 6:41 a.m. Friday at St. John’s Mercy Hospital in Joplin after an illness. He was 64.

February 10, 2012
County asks for dismissal of sheriff’s suit
The Jasper County Commission is the final authority in budget allocations, including those from the county’s Law Enforcement Sales Tax fund, county lawyers have argued in a motion recently filed in Jasper County Circuit Court.

February 10, 2012
Winter weather back in forecast
The arctic front that passed over Missouri on Friday will bring cold temperatures to the region tonight.

February 10, 2012
Weather service upgrading radar at Springfield station
The National Weather Service radar station at Springfield will be out of service for about two weeks to permit the installation of dual-polarization technology.

February 10, 2012
MSSU, PSU to conduct financial-aid events
Missouri Southern State University in Joplin and Pittsburg (Kan.) State University each will conduct events Sunday to help high school seniors with completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

February 10, 2012
Authorities term deaths of teens murder-suicide
Authorities say a teenage woman apparently shot her estranged boyfriend several times before turning the gun on herself and taking her own life.

February 10, 2012
Mike Pound: One man in America wants his robo call
I like to think I have pretty thick skin. If I didn’t, all the emails I get with the subject lines that read “Hey moron” would bother me. But they don’t, so I do.

February 10, 2012
Proposed Kan. abortion ban blocked by abortion foe
An influential anti-abortion legislator is blocking the push for a ban on abortion in the Kansas Constitution, highlighting a split among abortion opponents over tactics and frustrating the group advocating the “personhood” proposal Friday.

February 10, 2012
Kansas House GOP issues tax plan
House Republican leaders are proposing a plan to cut Kansas income taxes, removing one key objection to an earlier proposal from Gov. Sam Brownback.

February 10, 2012
More Local News Headlines

Water company cites reconnections

Local News

Search Results

Discussion

Mke Pound: The secret to riding out February

Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr wants the city to distribute weather radios to all Joplin homes that don’t have one. That’s 11,000 radios. Do you think that’s a good use of $300,440?

Site Map

Contact Us