The snow starts to melt. The icicles grow. Every year Anchorage seems to go through a mid-winter thaw that exposes… well, exposes everything that you hoped would be hidden until spring when it was pleasant enough to go out and clean it up. Yesterday, my BuddhaBubba came in with a sunflower seed casing sitting on the bridge of her nose. I looked out and what had been white snow with occasional yellow spots has become black seed snow. It’s butt ugly. Please, oh please, let winter return.