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Leave the snowman decorations alone

“How long are you going to leave that snowman on the porch?”

The question posed by Better Half the other day, when we were in the midst of enjoying unseasonably warm and wonderful weather for February, kind of threw me.

Snowman?

What snowman, I’m thinking.

Then I realized, oh, yeah, that snowman.

Better Half was referring to the new Christmas decoration I’d put on the front porch w-a-y back in December.

It’s one of those rustic-style decorations that I thought looked pretty good out there with my Christmas wreaths adorned with old horseshoes abandoned by Thunder and Tucker and red bandanas.

Giddyup.

And the snowman was hanging out near a rustic gate and lantern decoration to which I had added an old pair of cowboy boots, the insides the perfect place for fake poinsettias.

I had taken down the wreaths long ago and put away the boots and all, but I’d left the snowman right where he was.

I figured it was a seasonal decoration, not a Christmas thing, so it could stay put.

Ditto for another new Christmas decoration I left up — this one a snowman wreath I had won in a drawing in December.

A very festive snowman wreath.

It’s hanging on the inside of the front door, so when I leave the house, I see a snowman.

And when I walk onto the front porch, I see another snowman.

But you know what I haven’t really seen so much of?

Snow.

Nope. Not much at all.

It all makes perfect sense to me now.

I told Better Half the reason we haven’t really had any snow is because these snowmen have kept winter away, defying the Farmers Almanac predictions in the process.

So don’t go getting ambitious and jinx things, I cautioned.

If we put away the snowman decoration or take down the snowman wreath, we could have a blizzard.

And we don’t want that.

After all, we don’t mind the lack of bitter cold, snowy wintry weather.

Its absence makes life much more enjoyable, saving us on salt and slaving away scraping snow from the driveway.

It’s perfect weather instead for a horseback ride, of course, so I’ve been enjoying barn time with Thunder, now officially a teenager, having turned 13 on Feb. 16. (Hopefully he won’t turn rebellious, challenge my authority and stay out late.)

Better Half actually went golfing the other day with his brother Bud and former Weirton Steel co-worker Breeze.

That’s a bonus for February no matter how poor your performance.

I haven’t been scraping snow from my windows or fearing the drive in to work because of icy roads.

That’s a good thing.

The furnace is still running, but I can live with that.

And I’m not wearing open-toed shoes or sandals just yet, but all in good time.

Two weeks from today, we’ll have changed the clocks, springing ahead to enjoy extended daylight.

We welcome Daylight Saving Time.

Winter’s over, right?

I’ll consult with my snowman sources to be sure.

(Kiaski, a resident of Richmond, is a staff columnist and features writer for the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times and community editor for the Herald-Star. She can be contacted at jkiaski@heraldstaronline.com.)

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