Twenty Degrees at the end of March

This morning felt like the coldest day of the year. It dipped to 20 degrees overnight and winds made it feel even colder. Before doing chores, I had to look for the heavy winter gloves and hat that I abandoned a month ago. Frozen chicken waterers and icy buckets awaited me during chore time. During winter, I have a routine where I defrost buckets overnight so there are always empty, unfrozen buckets and waterers to fill. I have gotten out of that routine and had to haul them to the mud room and run hot water over them to melt the ice. A few weeks of warmer weather, green grass and sunshine make me think of spring, and so I experience the cold shock when winter weather dips its icy fingers onto the landscape before waving bye-bye.