First an update about the length of what is left of winter. As most readers know, in the west our ground hogs are marmots. We are fortunate living where we do because in the Bear Paw Mountains, on Clear Creek and far up White Pine Gulch lives a resident predictor of winter named Marmaduke Marmot. Sure enough there was a gathering in front of his instinctively through crevice and burrow, February 2, when he came out to see if he would see his shadow or not. Well, gentle readers up White Pine that morning there was a terrible blizzard raging and all of White Pine was in a dreadful whiteout.

Marm...