Hello april, goodbye winter

*hopefully* it's a toasty forty five degrees outside, the frozen lakes are starting to melt, the twenty foot snow mounds are verging on nonexistience, and the fields are flooded. i think, i just survived my first winter here. what a crazy experience! i never thought i would be okay with weather in the -20's and 52 inches of snow...but i was. really, once you get down to 0*, you really can't tell between that and -40. sure, water freezes or evaporates before it hits the ground, the snow takes on a sparkly effect because it's frozen...AND people are putting their RV's out on the lakes. but other than that' it's been very similar to a Utah winter. except for the snow never dissapears, it's always cold, and our blizzards actually happen. other than that though, things have remained well, almost normal. i'm not nearly as scared for winter anymore, and can't wait for it to hit sixty so i can break out my sandals and shorts. all in all, this has been a very interesting first year here. now i just can't wait for spring. too much to ask? probably. i'm expecting more snow any day now. forever and always, sarah leslie