Paging Mr. DeMille

When a snowstorm keeps you inside and all you have to play with is a cat and a camera, interesting things happen -- although the cat doesn't necessarily think so.

Endless February

Only three of us and our instructor showed up for fitness class at the JCC this morning.

It was actually more relaxed and informal -- and great fun.

I came in from Northside Richmond, where there was a crust of frozen rain on top of about 4 inches of snow. When I woke up this morning at 8 a.m., I looked out of my 9th-floor window and the roads were a mess. But by 10 a.m., the plows had been at work and the roads were fairly clear.

So I decided to go to class.

It took a few minutes to clear the snow from my car windows. It was mostly fluffy and brushed off easily.

On the way to the JCC on Monument Avenue I had no problems, even on neighborhood streets. No sliding. No slipping. And very few other drivers on the road.

When I met up with the class, it was interesting to learn about snow around their homes. Amounts varied. Our Thursday instructor lives near the University of Richmond. The snow fell more heavily there, about 6 inches. In the far West End, the snow was even heavier, with one report saying 7 inches.

February has been tough in Richmond this year. Usually we might get one big snowfall per season -- and big by Richmond standards is as little as 4 to 6 inches. This February alone, Richmond has already had three of what the TV forecasters call "snow events."

It's getting old. And it's supposed to snow again tonight.

The late Times-Dispatch columnist Charles McDowell once wrote in his annual tirade about this cursed month: "February lacks the new hopefulness of January, the windy excitement of March, the sunny promise of April. February depresses. It litters the landscape with dirty, clinging snow. It sabotages the automobile battery. It brings man into bitter conflict with his furnace."

Charlie nailed it. February is the wicked witch of months. The shortest month is the cruelest. And it seems longer than the Mesozoic Era.

The best thing you can say about this February is that there are only 15 more days before we can rip it off of the calendar.

And by the time summer's hurricane season rolls around, we'll have forgotten all about it.