From the weather to streets, things seem just a little out of balance this spring

Last week I saw a squirrel wrestling with a stick. Yes, a stick.
And, believe it or not, it looked like the stick was winning.
Before you think I’m crazy, I called my wife and son to the back window to look, too. They were rather amazed, and as amused as I was as the squirrel lay on its back, feet entangled with a small branch that had blown off in the gale-forced winds we had with the recent snow storm.
The poor squirrel, flailing away with its hind feet, was having a tough time getting away from this “attack stick.” It finally broke free and sprinted to safety, dignity badly bruised I assume.
I have been accused of making this stuff up about the weird squirrels in my 14th Street neighborhood, but I had witnesses this time.
During that same snow/wind storm, we also watched a small bird land near one of our feeders. It was atop the snow when a gust of wind literally blew the the bird across the snow surface. The bird didn’t move a muscle as it slid along the snowbank and off. Looked like something out of a Looney Tunes cartoon.
We get our humor where we can since we have no street, no sidewalk and little hope the neighborhood will get back to normal any time soon. Actually, I’m not quite sure what normal is anymore in the neighborhood.
You see, we lost our street to the late construction season that never should have started in the first place. This winter we ran the gauntlet of an ice-covered dirt street, snowplows that churned up as much sand as snow, and then along came spring and its ensuing water issues.
Ice turned to mud and mud turned to goo before the contractor finally brought in a load of rock to help stabilize the scene for a week or two. At least we could get into our sagging, spongy driveway again.
And then came last week’s snowstorm. Despite the heavy, wet snow, I managed to avoid a heart attack. And we managed to navigate through the blizzard until the city sent a pay loader to clean what was left our street two days later.
The operator, without warning, showed up and began pushing the snow east toward the end of our driveway and the nearby street barriers.
By the way, the barriers were moved close to the end of my driveway to keep knuckleheads from driving around them and into the mushy street. But the only way to exit our driveway after that was to drive straight back until reaching the First Lutheran side of the street, then turn left and head west to escape. If you turned right when backing out, you hit the street barriers.
So where was the snow pushed? Right in our pathway to backing out. Uff da!
But I’m told that snow pile will be gone in a few days, so don’t worry. As I write this, the snow pile has not gone away and is still in the middle of the street. With all the dirt mixed in with it, I suspect getting out of our driveway will continue to be an adventure for the foreseeable future.
We have been told our “new” street should be in by June 1. I have my doubts about that, too.
Not only did we get our usual early-spring snow storm, we will likely get our usual April rains followed by a usual wet spring before we hit our June “monsoon” rains.
I think our history of wet spring weather will prove me right on this one.

Rich Glennie was the editor of The Chronicle for 23 years. He retired Aug. 1, 2014.