The saying in New England where I live is "if you don't like the weather wiat a few minutes and it will change." A couple of days ago I was talking about signs of Spring. Last night we had over half a foot of heavy wet snow. It took down trees all over the place. I have lost my favorite white berch trees in my back yard. For decades they have bent unter the snow but returned to stand tall when it wented. For some reason this time they uprooted themselves and are laying flat on the ground. I doubt there is any putting them back to rights. I am really upset about it too. I liked those trees.

The weather also took out the power lines and we were without power for several hours. My UPS system kept the Internet going for much of it. Then the power came back for an hour and when it went out again the Internet went with it. It took longer for the Internet to come back than the power. How dependent we are on such things. Cell phone service continued and I was able to make calls and check email that way at least. Once again new technology makes things possible that we never dreamed of when I was a kid. Cell phones and email were stuff of science fiction back in my childhood.

When I went out early to clear the snow - largely because I was to fidgity to sleep - the outside lights came on. They are run using a battery and solar power. It made me wish I could use that all the time. We have a way to go in the development of moth batteries and solar panels before that gets really practical. It's something we should be working on more than we are though. A lot of inovation and invention left for people with imagination. Would one of you young people go solve these problems for the rest of us? I'd appreciate it. Thanks.