March 16-22, 2026

Weather | 3/16, p. cloudy, 9°, 25° | 3/17, sunny, 3°, xx° | 3/18, xx°, xx° | 3/19, xx°, xx° | 3/20, xx°, xx° | 3/21, xx°, xx° | 3/22, xx°, xx° |

• Monday, 3/16: Single Digits in March
  • We had a cold day with a low of 9° and a high of 25°. The newly emerged forsythia blossoms turned to a dull brown/orange color from their original bright yellow tint. We have a thorough coating of snow to keep temperatures low.
  • A good thing about cold temperatures is that there are fewer bugs in the house. I only vacuumed once.
  • A large number of bluebirds were hanging around the willow stump this morning.
  • The sun has lots of power. It melted snow down to bare ground in some spots, despite the cold.
  • While Mary cross stitched in the sunroom, I put away all of the rest of my fly tying goodies that were hidden under the rolltop desk. An advantage with a rolltop desk is you can hide all of your stuff. A disadvantage is once you slide the rolltop cover open, your heap falls out onto the floor. Now, I don't have a heap!
  • I called the Lewis County Rural Electric Cooperative (REC) to let them know that we saw a spark above our transformer during last night's blizzard. I told the woman I talked to that we still have electricity, so there was no huge rush to come fix it. Within a couple hours later, two REC trucks rumbled up our driveway. The worker driving the bucket truck used a thick plastic yellow stick that expanded upward. It had a hook on top of it that he connected into a loop at the bottom of the clamp holding the lead wire onto the incoming electric cable. He checked the clamp's tightness by trying to loosen it. He said it loosened very easily, so he tightened it up by twisting the pole clockwise. What an ingenious device! We're all set, now. 
  • Cooper had a hard time seeing a white lacrosse ball in the white snow, so during our game of fetch, I sought out melted trail patches and threw it underhanded, so it landed on tan grass, instead of white snow.
  • We had a crystal clear night sky when we walked Cooper on his last outing.