I stepped out of the store and walked across the parking lot toward my car. When I entered the store an hour earlier, it had been slightly cool, but now the air was considerably warmer. Everyone I saw was walking slowly and smiling. Earlier, everyone in the parking lot had been holding their collars shut and rushing to get out of the chill wind.

Some days in April look beautiful. The sun shines, and piles of snow along the roads and in fields begin to melt. Great gusts of spring wind sweep over these mounds of leftover winter, and the blasting air becomes sharp like a knife. On those days, when an unsuspecting person steps out of a warm house, the freshly weaponized wind slices into their warm, tender neck skin.

Occasionally a sunny April day can be so warm, and has so little wind, that people Think that summer has arrived to stay. A true, native Wisconsinite cannot be fooled that easily. We joke about having first spring, second winter, second spring, third winter, and so on. I just think to myself that Wisconsin has five seasons; spring, summer, fall, winter and the season I call yucky-muck.

Winter doesn’t like to leave on a schedule, politely, without a fuss or with good will. Yucky-muck season lasts eight to twelve weeks. It is a time of tug-of-war between winter and spring as the two fight over who reigns supreme. During this time, often within one week’s time, it is possible to experience a huge winter blizzard followed by days of balmy breezes and the hatching of mosquitoes. At this time of year, if the ground isn’t white with snow, the yards are filled with brown and gooey muddy ruts and dirty rivulets of water draining away.