Ice out

Many Maine lakes are showing ice out at the earliest dates ever recorded, Megunticook, for example, on March 19, the earliest in more than 100 years. You can now paddle your canoe its entire length again, if you were inclined to get wet and cold on another truly awful day in the Northeast (another sign of spring). I've often wondered: was last week's beautiful weather a payback for the downpours that preceded it, or are today's downpours a payback for the beautiful weather? We might have to go back all the way to the Garden of Eden to answer it. Or maybe it depends if you're a Democrat or Republican.

The ice also went out in Washington on Sunday night, at long last. Cold and unfeeling gave way to warm and understanding. The President, curiously, went the opposite, from warm and fuzzy ("let's try working together on healthcare") to cold and efficient("damn it, the majority of people elected us, and we have the majority in both houses of Congress, so let's just do what they elected us for"). The solution is not perfect, but it's worth rejoicing. Perhaps now people won't have to wait, suffering, until they're 65 to fix their knees and backs and arteries and kidneys, a common occurrence in Maine even though the State has one of the lowest rates of uninsured thanks to Dirigo. Good weather ahead.