Winter Runs Down the Clock

It happens every year. We get one of those mid-winter thaws that makes you think spring is here and it turns out to be nothing more than winter giving you a head fake before smashing it’s knee into your groin.

And this one was pretty brutal. It wasn’t that long ago our kids were catching fish on dry flies without much assistance and then before we knew what happened there was snow and ice everywhere and highs in the single digits! In all honesty, the worst weather was off to our west. The Smokies typically get the worst winter weather, but the bulk of snow and ice missed us even if the brutal cold didn’t.

Little River last week with water temperatures right at freezing

Roads were closed across the state and power lines came down. We were pretty fortunate to only lose power for about eight hours, but our phone and cable lines were out for five days so we had no TV and only mobile internet. It was internet the way the pioneers experienced it.

(In case you’re wondering, that’s a joke. Even today there’s very little mobile internet reception in the Smokies and it’s a well known fact the pioneers had to rely on primitive dial-up connections.)

This week we’re still looking at below normal temperatures and light snow in the forecast, but I can’t help but notice the date on the calendar indicates spring is getting very close along with the hatches and rising trout that come with it. It just looks like winter is hanging onto the ball for now and trying to run down the clock.