So the month of February has turned out to be one of the COLDEST Februarys we have spent in years.  

I started the month with a trip to Seattle area to stay with my mother while my sister had a week’s quilting retreat.  Flew in on Sunday afternoon and a few flakes were falling.   This is the sight that greeted us the next morning - 8” of snow.  To say that the area ground to a halt was an understatement!   This was my sister’s backyard.

And this is a look out her front door!  Needless to say, she didn’t make it to the retreat that day - - we had an old fashion “Snow Day”.   The next day the sun came out and we were able to make it to the retreat site, where I left her with the promise to return about noon on Friday to get her and then I would leave Saturday morning..  

Mom and I had a wonderful week together.  Unfortunately I didn’t dare take her out for breakfast as a fall on the ice that was all around all week would have been very bad.

By Thursday it had become apparent that another storm was going to hit the Seattle area and there would be no getting out on Saturday as I was originally scheduled to do.   So I changed my flight to Friday afternoon.   In the meantime my sister called and we agreed that I would pick her up early Friday and we would head directly for the airport so that she would be home before it started snowing again.  

When I arrived at Sea-Tac airport (along with thousands and thousands of others) I went directly to the Southwest ticket counter and asked if they had any flights out headed in the direction of Phoenix earlier than my scheduled 5:15 pm flight.   They had one flight leaving at 1:30 pm heading to Dallas and I could get the last connecting flight to Phoenix that evening.  I said yes and crossed my fingers.

When we  finally started to board the flight this was what we saw!  GULP!

After we were boarded, we sat and waited to be de-iced, and I began to check the time.  45 minutes later we were finally de-iced (snow sliding down the windows as we were sprayed) and then had to wait another 20 minutes for our turn to take off.  

Once in the air there wasn’t much I could do but hope that the pilot would be the hammer down - which he did.  We still landed late in Dallas - after my flight to Phoenix had already taken off.  Now at this point, most people would be upset - but this is the point where my lemons became lemonade.  I had texted Dave that there was a chance I would miss my flight in Dallas and he had alerted Megan and Kenneth.   So I had a text from Megan waiting when I landed saying let us know when you land!   They picked me up, made me some dinner and we chatted as I ate, then off to bed so that we could get up at 4:00 am and get me back to the airport at 5:00 am.  Luckily there was absolutely no traffic that early in the morning so it was a quick trip from their place to Love Field in Dallas.  I landed in Phoenix at 8:00 am - a full 8 hours before I was originally scheduled to return home!

And that should be the end of the story - back in the warm sunshine of Phoenix.  Unfortunately this has been one of the coldest February in history for Phoenix.  The high on February 22nd was only 49 - and that is the day Spring Training was starting!!!!!   So instead of coming back to warmth, I came back to rain and cold.   In fact on the 22nd we had 1.89 inches in Mesa!  And just 20 miles north, they had SNOW in the desert!   In fact, they are hoping that the rain this year will help with the several year drought.

So much for doing anything outside - rain, rain, GO AWAY.    

Long range forecast says our normal temperatures should return and 70s are in the forecast for next week!