On The Silly Side by Jimmy Del Ponte

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)

Despite the fact that a lot of my snowplowing friends are understandably bummed out, this is still a great time of year. Daylight Savings Time begins on Sun, Mar 11. That’s less than a month away! (I love using exclamation points!) That’s when we spring forward and get an extra hour of daylight. I hope I don’t jinx us by writing about spring, but I can’t help it. I’m all excited! Compared to last winter we got off really easy, although there is still plenty of winter left and plenty of snow that could fall. However, the winter of 2011-2012 just may be a record breaker. Hopefully, we will continue to be spared by Mother Nature. “Red Sox pitchers and catchers will hold their first workouts Feb. 21. Position players report Feb. 23 and the first full team workout will be held on the 25th.” The Sox equipment truck was scheduled to arrive in Florida for spring training yesterday.

The West Somerville Neighborhood School’s eighth graders enjoyed skating at the Frog Pond in Boston on Friday with temps in the 50’s.
I was in Davis Square with my sons buying Valentine’s Day cards and we were just wearing sweatshirts. You would have thought it was a brisk fall day instead of February 10th. Sure, we have had some cold weather (like Sunday the 12th) but hardly any snow. To me this means my daily drives to two different schools and then work has been a piece of cake. Remember last winter when hundreds of car side mirrors were destroyed because the streets were made so narrow from all the snow? It was like the movie Groundhog Day. Every day it seemed we woke up to a new snowstorm.

Speaking of snow, did you survive that big storm on Saturday? I almost got the snow blower out to remove the slight dusting that was on my grass. I had to drive to Pembroke Saturday night and was dreading driving in the storm, but it never came. Yay! Sunday was brutal, but, then again, it’s winter. It’s also pretty rare to look outside in mid February and not see all that dirty snow all over the ground. Rare, but welcome. I do not miss that one-foot wide commuter worn rut in the ice and snow on College Ave. You remember trying to walk in the winter when frozen ice and snow made it so treacherous, don’t you? You had to stop and let someone pass because the path was so tiny. And it was very dangerous trying to maneuver over the frozen tundra. It was made even more dangerous when the spandex patrol (joggers) took over the sidewalk. By the way why do we have to get out of their way when the sidewalk is there for walking pedestrians and not scantily clad runners? Have you almost been knocked over by them? I have. And they dart in front of your car and you can’t see them and…I digress.

Here are some nice weather things that some of my friends are looking forward to. Birds chirping, driving around with the top down, beaches, the new seasonal ales, daffodils, camping and boating. I hope the gas prices come down before we all start hitting the road for our warm weather adventures.

So enjoy this unseasonable weather. Keep that shovel handy but make sure you know where the spring jacket and Red Sox hat is. One more thing… Please keep your dogs on the leash unless you are in one of our dog parks. There are dogs running around unleashed at Powder House Park. How can people see the signs posted to keep dogs leashed and clean up after them, and then blatantly break the law? Off leash dogs are a safety hazard to other dogs, small children, and everyone in general.