Endless Winter

I hate February.

I'm not kidding. This month sucks. I don't care how short it is on paper, it's feckin endless. The weather sucks, the holidays suck (President's Day? Excuse me?) even the spelling sucks. I mean, what's that first r doing in there when everybody pronounces it feb-yoo-ary? It's like this long penance month between the fun of Christmas and New Year's and the fun of St. Patrick's Day and Spring. It feels like punishment. Like we should be wearing hair shirts instead of parkas.

But I found a little bright spot here in Suckuary today, courtesy of the little count-down calendar on my computer. The opening of the 2008 Kansas City Irish Fest is exactly 200 days away.

I remember when this milestone came along last year. Once that little ticker gets into the 100's, boy, things really start moving. The sun comes out. Crocuses bloom. Birds tweet tweet. Grass grows. And before you know it, it's Irish Fest time. And that all starts tomorrow when 199 turns up on the wee electronic calendar on my screen. At least that's what I'm going to be telling myself as I scrape the ice and snow of my windshield in the morning.