So now we're well into March already. That's hard to believe, because wasn't Christmas just a couple weeks ago?
Anyway, with March we may get to welcome back the sun and some warmer weather. The first day of spring comes this month -- March 20 -- and already the snow has almost entirely melted away. It won't be long before we see colorful wildflowers blooming around the area.
This month also brings the advent of our annual exercise in foolishness called "Daylight Savings Time." This Sunday, we're all supposed to move our clocks forward one hour. By providing an extra hour of light at the end of the day, this is allegedly going to keep us from using as much electricity in the evening. But nothing is said about needing more electricity in the morning when it will be dark once again. This whole exercise is like someone cutting a foot of fabric off the end of a blanket and sewing it onto the other end and expecting the blanket to then be warmer. It's silly.
March also brings us the "March Madness" college basketball tournament. Although the traditional powerhouses usually wind up playing for the championship, still it's fascinating to see the large field of teams continue to get whittled down to a final two playing for the title. Along the way there are usually some major upsets, and no team gets a second try -- it's one loss and you're done. So the stakes are high and the passions are strong, and it sure makes for some intriguing sports action. Definitely worth tuning in.
Speaking of sports, March also brings the return of the Major League Baseball season, which used to be considered "America's pastime." That was before the National Football League became the most popular sport in the nation. The NFL is now considered a sport in which, once it starts, "nothing else matters." But this month could spell real trouble for the NFL. The team owners and the players' union are negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement (the old one expires in March), and there is a real danger the parties won't be able to agree. In a worst-case situation, that could delay or even cancel the 2011 season. That would make March a bitter month indeed.
Most of all, however, we think of March as the month when some warm weather usually starts returning to the Columbia River Gorge; and when the rain can be expected to stop now and then to let the sun come shining through.
It's a welcome time of year.
JB
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