"Aye, There's the rub!"

One of the joys of living in the Upper Midwest is that in March and April, the weather conditions can be really variable-that's a Minnesota Nice way of saying our weather can seriously suck. 

Witness the evening of March 31st, through the wee hours of April First. By the time the wet, white stuff had settled on terra firma, nine and a half inches of it had settled where I live in New Hope, Minnesota. For my readers who are aghast that such snowfall can happen so late in the spring(and why one would think of living in such a place), that is not the latest I have seen.

On April 29, 1984-the day my lovely Red-Head and I tied the knot, we got SIX inches that day. THAT is the latest that I have seen it snow in the Minneapolis area with my own eyes.

The good news on April Fools Tuesday, was that the weather was in the mid forties with brilliant sunshine today- so a good chunk of the snowfall from 24 hours ago is now gone. I have not checked to see how badly Rochester, Minnesota got hit. Normally I would not care THAT much about the weather in South East Minnesota. The only people I know that way are my son's girlfriend's Andrea's mom and step-dad live in Eyota, not that far from Rochester. The reason I am curious about the snow accumulation around the home of the Mayo Clinic is that my  Metropolis Rugby Club B squad is scheduled to play there this Saturday, and I am really looking forward to playing-even if the conditions will probably be wet, chilly and muddy.(Thank God for Under Armour) It will make it a forward's game, and as a prop, that part I don't mind. The only thing that is kind of a drag is that scrumming can be kind of an adventure in muddy conditions when you are in the front row.

My Portuguese exchange student Rodrigo found out today that it was NOT an April fools joke that his Plymouth Panther's Rugby Football club had practice. Outside. On the Snow. I admit it, I laughed at his discomfort in playing on the white stuff. We Minnesotans secretly love the visible discomfort of people from more sunny and temperate climates who have the misfortune of being here when our weather turns cold, snowy-or both. (I don't know if any of my readers from Great Britain take the same delight when visitors from places like Greece, Italy, Spain and France complain about the lack of sunshine)

Gotta love Minnesota in the Spring.