Happy Leap Year!

Today is 29 February, and this date won't happen again until 2020.  I was born in 1956, which was also a Leap Year; and, as usual, I always spend a few minutes on this date wondering about children born on the 29th of February.  Had I been born today, instead of in June, would I be celebrating my 15th, or my 60th, birthday today.  Had I been born on this date, this would be only the 15th time I could have celebrated on my birthday. Of course, 60 actual years would have passed, but only 15 29th's of February.  The irrepressible part of my brain screams that I would be 15 only.  But I know the day counters would put me at 60 years...  Oh, well...  And what do you do if you were born on the 29th of February?  Do you celebrate on the 28th for three years, and then on the 29th, changing back to the 28th again?  Kids born on Leap Year Day get a really nasty deal when it comes to birthdays!
   Today is also known as Sadie Hawkins Day in the United States....  This is thanks to cartoonist Al Capp, who originated the Dogpatch comic strip.  The comic was set in the hills of Kentucky, and everyone was convinced that hillbillys had some really strange thinking patterns.  The richest man in Dogpatch was named Hezekiah Hawkins, and in November of 1937, readers of the comic strip met Hezekiah's daughter, Sadie.  Sadie was described as "the homeliest gal in the hills" and would soon be 35 years old. Hezekiah didn't want his only child to be known as "an old maid," so he organized the Sadie Hawkins' Day race.  If Sadie (who was very fast on her feet) could catch any un-married man before the finish line of the race, that man had to marry her - proclaimed her Daddy, holding a shotgun.  While this comic strip was published on November 15, 1937, the idea became popular, and Sadie Hawkins' Day became an established part of American life.  On November 13, from 1939 onward, females were allowed and encouraged to ask a boy, or young man, to be her date for a dance on 13 November.  After the end of World War II, Leap Year Day was also celebrated as Sadie Hawkins' Day here in America.
   Of course, with today's mores and standards, it is acceptable for any female to invite any male to a dance, party, meal, or whatever...   But it certainly was a shocker back in the 1930s and 1940s.

   We've had one of the warmest February's on record here in Boulder this year.  We had over 16 inches of light, fine, powdery snow fall early in the month, then temperatures in the 60s and 70s.  Last week we had 4 inches of heavy wet snow on Monday night, followed by more highs in the 60s and 70s (F).  While I've been writing this blog, on the last day of February, the sky has gone from bright blue, with a few high clouds, to a dreary grey.  The wind has picked up considerably - it was at 8 mph this morning, when I was walking dogs - to 30 mph, with gusts up to 58 mph.  Snow clouds have rolled in from the west, and are hanging on all visible mountaintops.  And the snow clouds are quickly enveloping the tops of the Flatirons, as I glance to the southwest from my bedroom window.  I can see snow accumulating on top of Bear and Green Mountains.  It seems very surreal.   Actually, it's like watching a heavy sea mist creep in over Assateague and Chincoteague Islands....   It's amazing what one can see, just observing from one's window.