Please don't feed the animals - they enjoy being miserable

This can be a brutal time of year.  The enjoyable activities of fall and winter are long over.  Spring seems like it is just about to happen, but there is a lot of winter left to endure.  We do begin to get those initial warm days which are nice for a time, but they enhance the pain during winter's relapse.

As 2013/14 has been a particularly heinous winter, the malaise can be as bad as ever.
For whatever reason, this also tends to be an evil time at work, with more unreasonable demands, irritable coworkers and a general working environment that spirals down to the lowest common denominator.

Last weekend saw one of the brief warm and sunny days.  Heavy rains the few days before washed away most of the salt and allowed a first motorcycle ride for 2014.  Since it is rare to not get the motorcycle out at least a couple times every month in the winter, this was a nice breather.
After a tolerable day yesterday, the forecast calls for a winter storm bringing rain, ice, freezing rain, sleet and snow to the area.  As much as meteorologists get verbally beat up for imperfection in the models, they usually do get it mostly right.  This morning saw everything coated with ice and the predicted unfriendly radar.

NPR had an interesting story earlier this week.  It asked the question (NPR never answers anything) whether something is good due to intrinsic qualities or if there is something else, even chance playing a role.  The conclusion of some research by Princeton's Matthew Salganik was that chance plays a significant role.  The extension of this was that it could apply to things in everyday life as well.
This seemed to be a bit of a stretch based on the brief synopsis of the research, but it validates my belief so it must be true.  I'm pretty convinced that a few simple decisions I made around the age of 15 lead directly to where I am now.
The seemingly small decision to purchase my first car, resulted in my getting a job a few years later at an auto shop, which led to me working as a mechanic a few years later.  With a few Twists, this is the reason I was able to (and decided to) continue in college through graduation, resulting in my current job and current position in life; good, bad or other.
If I wouldn't have bought that car, would I be destitute and homeless?  Probably not, but the tree of events is there.  Seemingly small decisions can end up having huge implications years down the road.

My oldest dog has kidney disease.  As a result, she is on Science Diet K/D.  While every day is different, the food has helped her immensely.  But, she hates it.  She has gone form a beagle who excitedly scarfs down food to picking at it very slowly.  With two other beagles waiting and anxious, she has to be isolated until she eats her food.  In order to encourage her to eat, she gets a combination of dry and canned K/D plus a few spoonfuls of Heinz gravy (no protein).  With this buffet served twice a day, I am surprised she doesn't eat more exuberantly.
Without her knowing it, there is little question this despicable food has improved her overall life expectancy, if not her life.

So maybe there is a bright spot to this horrid time of year.  Wet, snow, ice, cold, mud...
"Knowing that things come to an end is a gift of experience, a consolation prize for knowing that we ourselves are coming to an end." - Tobias Wolff

The cold weather is forecast to be in place for longer than normal this year, but it will end.

Even if tomorrow turns out to be unpalatable, I'm confident I'll wake up one day closer to something better.