It's finally snowing!

You know, I didn't think it would even snow this winter.  I mean, it's been three months since our last freak snowstorm in october and it's the middle of January and all--so where was our snow? 

Somewhere else, obviously. 

Also, I had an inside track to know how bad this winter was going to be, and lots of snow was not forecast.  And I remember winters with hardly any snow, and after last year, was I going to complain?  Nope.  Shoveling snow is evil.  Evil I tell you.  Especially when you're doing it every three days.  And your snow piles have turned into snow mountains.  And you just can't fling it up any higher so you don't really have a path any more b/c all the snow avalanched down off your snow mountains. 

Anyone else have a winter like that last year?

So when our oak tree told us that this winter would be a light one, I was relieved.

And yes, you heard me right: our oak tree told us.  No I am not crazy.

~Liar.
Don't you start with me right now.

As I said, not crazy, just clever.  :)  Because every year our oak tree drops a proportionate amount of acorns to how hard a winter we're going to have.  Big evil snow winter?  We have to sweep the acorns off the lawn and wear helmets out our front door to keep from getting brained.

--You didn't.
I didn't what?
--Wear a helmet. 
I was speaking metaphorically, it's supposed to be funny. 
--But you didn't.
Sigh.  I'm speaking to the wrong one, aren't I?
~'snicker.'  Yup.  Helmet--funny--check.  Though what you did do was even funnier.
It worked.
~Delusional.
Two years it's worked.
~Do you know what she did?
!Acorns!  I love acorns!
Acorn whistles are the best.
!I know!
~Back to you being so embarrassingly odd--
Fine.  But I command you not to say anything.
~That only works on Mr. Logical.  Anyway, what she did was this: at the start of acorn dropping season, she had a talk with the tree. 
Do we have to do this?
~She stood in the yard and told it not to drop any acorns on her head or else she would get really mad.  But if it didn't, they were all right.
So?
~You stood in your yard and talked to your oak tree.  I believe you were saying you weren't crazy...?
It worked, didn't it?  Two years, and that tree hasn't dropped a single acorn on my head.
--Odds.
What?
--It's just the odds. Big tree, big yard, you're only walking to and from your car in a short span of time, so the odds were in your favor.
Raindrops hit me all the time from that tree.  Big drippy ones that go splat.
!Splat!
Exactly.
--If we were to do the math on the amount of acorns dropping from a tree on an average year vs. the amount of rain in an average storm--
Number one, not an average year for acorns last year.  Number two, be quiet.
--...
~So she stood out in the yard and--
I think we're done here.
!I like the oak tree!  It got hit by lightning and is still alive! 
Sigh.

Back to the oak tree being smarter than weathermen--this year we hardly had any acorns drop.  And when I mean hardly any, I mean we saw one or two on the yard and heard stories about tree scientists getting worried about why all the trees weren't dropping acorns this year, and if it meant something was horribly horribly wrong with the ecosystem.  I am happy to tell the tree-scientists that there is nothing wrong with the oak tree population.  They're just smarter than we are and don't see the point of seeding out too much if the winter is mild.

And when I say mild I mean still cold but without all the evil amounts of snow.  'Cause it's January already and this is our first snow of winter.  (October doesn't count).  Here's hoping February is correspondingly nice.  (I hate February).

And happy birthday James Earl Jones!  You're 81!  Please don't die on us.  What would the world be like without Darth Vader?