Is it spring yet?

I should have made myself a ticker to count down days to spring training so I could have some hope that Winter will one day actually take a freakin' hike. Don't get me wrong, I don't really want to live in a place that lacks four real seasons. . .I just want the winter one to be short and sweet.

What I dislike more than the cold, more than hefty amounts of snow that lingers and looks dingy in those places dogs abuse it and cars turn it black with all sorts of stuff, is re-frozen melted stuff. I know, you got lost somewhere in that giant sentence so let me rephrase. I hate when snow and/or ice melts on a day that is only seems practically balmy after such biter cold refreezes at night. There is nothing you can do to prevent it. You shovel away snow, you put de-icer crud down, you get your driveway perfect. Then it all starts to melt - the snow on the edges dripping into little riverlets making its escape to the street. The sun sets and then rises. You walk out attempting to make it to your mailbox and you nearly fall on your butt a few dozen times as you hit patches of ice here and there and everywhere.

Please, shove that ground hog back in his hole and ask him to pop up again in a way that predicts warm weather in short order.