Thanks O Canada

"We stand on guard for thee" is a line from the Canadian national anthem. Quite appropriate these last few days, as that beautiful cold area of high-pressure from the north kept last weekend's big storm well to the south of New England, and today, a perfectly clear-blue, calm, and warmish day in Maine, is still under its influence as it works hard to keep yet another storm away. The storm tonight and tomorrow will pound the mid-Atlantic again and may hit southern New England, but looks to miss Maine entirely, a happenstance pleasing to all but the snow enthusiast, as we now have reached well into February, the month of restlessness.

At least Washington DC is no longer smug about its winter weather. I imagine, however, that the politicians all got out of town last Friday, to escape the metaphor of their congressional gridlock made even too obvious for them to handle. The federal government is closed again today and our heroes are definitely heading for the constituencies or the slopes again, getting a jump on next week's planned recess. I know they work hard, or at least spend a lot of hours working, but they don't get anywhere so they might as well leave, cool off, regroup. The citizenry of DC seemed to be in a feisty mood against them last weekend, engaging in a mass snowball fight directed at black SUVs with the temerity to try the streets. Big cars in DC mean government - I think the snowballers were telling them to go home. So they did.

Canada can do another thing for us while she's at it. Along with that pure air please send us little bluebirds of national health-care happiness. Sunny Maine and Massachusetts (at least we're trying to fix the problems) will be happy to transport them down to DC and release them in the Senate chamber to await the return of the squabbling snowbirds of sectarianism.