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February 27, 2019: February is the Cruelest Month

I think that T.S. Eliot said that April is the cruelest month. He obviously did not spend any time in Alaska, where winter has a tendency to last longer than in any other place in the world, except Siberia. And we are within hailing distance from Siberia. The reason there are no roads from here to Siberia is because no one would want to spend that much time driving between like places.

So, yeah, from my vantage point, February is the cruelest month, first of all because for 28 0r 29 days I have to think about how I spell it. It should be spelled “Febuary.” I don’t know who or why the person who came up with the spelling of this particular month threw in the extra R. It flummoxes me because then I put the a before the R.


Pete and Tyra


The other reason is that February has a lot of winter baggage. If it was 31 days, I think we’d all jump off icebergs, into cold rivers.

This year February came in with overcast skies, snow and cold. It’s going out with sunny skies, no snow, and slightly warmer temperatures. March, anything can happen. But March has far less weather baggage than does February.

The sun’s been shining brightly the past few days – we’d like to think a sign of what’s to come. Early, I got Tinni and Raudi out on the trail. It’s now a bit too patchy for my liking, so I suspect that for the next month I’ll be road riding. Groan.

I’ve also been able to drive Deathtrap. Today I first went to strength training, then yoga, then to my wilderness first responder instructor’s EMT class. I had to drive home in the dark, but because the weather was good, I was able to get home safely. Hard to believe, but in another two months, it will be light at 9 p.m. There will also be birds around, and some greenery.

Strength training is going well – I’m getting stronger. Yoga is yoga – there is very little consistency in how the instructor is doling out the exercises – it’s easy one minute and hard the next. But I persist because I am taking the course through the college, which means for me that it’s free. And free anything is good.

The EMT class was pretty remarkable – the teacher has the liberty to do things in differing ways – for example, there are collaborative quizzes and group activities. One group (for example) was practicing packaging individuals up for an ambulance ride, while another was answering questions that had been written on a whiteboard. The EMT students are getting ready for their exams in April. If they pass, they will then have national certification.

I’m going to class tomorrow evening and might be a patient. They are going to practice extricating people from cars. This EMT thing is something I have absolutely no desire to do. This is an activity for those who are hands on, which I am not. Hey, but at least I can spell the word February, as it is meant to be and as it is not meant to be.

Next: 58. 2/28/19: A Conversation with Raudi

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