A few quick hits, therefore the title. First, climate-wise, the Tahoe Basin finished the snow season with a strong March. That was apparent to me as the commercials on KFOG (the station I've been listening to via the interwebs in the morning for the last 14 years) touting the "9 feet of new snow at Squaw Valley!!1!" Unfortunately, the strong March was only strong enough to take the snow total to a meager 53% of average. (A quick aside: the story uses the word "normal" vs. "average." I hate that. What is" normal" anyway – especially when you only have ≈100 years of data out of millions of potential? Use what's accurate: average.) Of the watersheds in the region, that scored as the most, too. The Walker River basin finished at a dismal 39% of average. Look out summer, it might be a scary fire season. Things are dry, and if it gets hot, things will be extremely dry and flammable.

With a tip of the popular culture hat to either a stupid movie I never saw, or a post-Beatles John Lennon song I never particularly liked, my current state is either "Dude, Where's my Strength and Stamina" or "Starting Over." After stripping off a bunch of weight (probably unnecessarily, but sometimes life screws with you), and my situation being a roil of turmoil over the last few months, my physical fitness level has plummeted. I think things are finally bottoming out. I had a chance to get on a trail Monday, and to the yoga studio Tuesday. Wow. It, um, sucked? In one of the more egregious slaps in the face by nature, losing a fitness level occurs much, much quicker than attaining it. It seems all the work I did over the last 10 years evaporated in the last 5 months, and I am starting once again from scratch. As I unwillingly approach my half-century cake day, I am sure the re-acquisition of said fitness level (if even attainable) will be a more difficult slog this second time around. 

Since next weekend is spring break for my kids, there are no events on the family slate for either this coming weekend or the next. Barring being roped into working either of the two races scheduled in my area, I might, might have a day to go exploring. I'll probably just do the oil and tire maintenance thing on the cars on Saturday and give myself Christian Magical Sunday to head out. Analysis paralysis! Where to go? I don't want to drive more than 90 minutes, though the draw to head to Austin, NV is strong (3 hours each way). Got an idea? Tell me.

Undeniably, we have been experiencing a dry winter here in northern Nevada. From my perspective, the winter of 2011-2012 has (thus far) been the driest I've experienced in the 20 years I've lived here. But we are not alone. Merrie olde Englande, the source of good mental movies of foggy and rainy London, green pastures with rock walls, etc., is in the midst of a impending crisis - as the UK Guardian reports:

Things are different now, and weather patterns appear to be changing. What was once a climate conducive to crops will eventually no longer be. People are going to want to move to where the water is, and the people who are already there, aren't going to be particularly welcoming, methinks.