If all the snowstorms we’ve been having had occurred in November, I think I would be fully depressed by now. Long, cold, and snowy winter days just do not appease me. But knowing that the cold and snow came in February, with spring right around the corner, makes it a lot more tolerable.

I cannot wait for spring to get here. I’ve been working on winter projects inside the house, all the while buying stuff for outside. I found a woman who sells wall decorations made out of recycled tin that is created by artisans in Haiti. My first purchase from her? A mermaid with dreadlocks.

Although the artist had painted her, I decided to add a three-dimensional effect by building up the paint and glitter on her seashell bra as well as adding big drops of gold paint onto her locks to give them the appearance of having hair ornaments. Now all I want to do is set her outside to watch over my deck. Even the foot-and-a-half of snow out there is not preventing me from envisioning what it’s going to look like once the weather gets warm.

One of the things I’m going to have to do is buy a shovel to permanently keep out on my deck over the winter. There was so much snow out there that I actually had to shovel it. The weight of snow can be extremely heavy. Just this past weekend, an abandoned building collapsed in Englewood because of the weight of the snow.

Or I may look into the possibility of putting heating coils on the deck for the winter to cause the snow to melt. I am going to have to check with an electrician to see if that is possible.

I have so many plans to use my deck this year. As soon as the weather permits, I’m going to strip and refinish it. Many of the items I bought to decorate the deck will be installed and I will not concern myself with attempting to bring them in in the fall.

For some reason, I missed what happened on Groundhog Day. In checking the internet, apparently Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow. So if he’s correct, we’re going to have six more weeks of winter.

I was very pleased to be in Dollar Tree the other day and saw the nice assortment of outdoor decorations they had. I bought a bunch of ceramic pot climbers. They are cute little whimsical figures that hook onto the side of the flower pot to give the impression of an animal climbing up a ladder into it. I also bought several boxes of flower seeds. I cannot wait to toss those seeds onto the ground and have beautiful flowers coming up in the spring and summer.

Winter, please go away just like the year 2020 did!