Jane Q. Citizen: "The one thing you can count on as far as winter in north Idaho is it ain't over 'til it's over. We keep ours on (studded snow tires) until the last legal day to do so."

DFO: For the first time since I arrived in the Northwest almost 30 years ago, I declared Feb. 2 to be the end of winter. Hear me out. In the past, I'd get bummed about winter stretching into April sometimes. (In Kalispell, Mont., it can stretch through June.) Anyway, the day marks my father's birthday and Punxatawney Phil's prediction. Since Phil's friend Pennsylvania wherein lies the despicable town of Pittsburgh, home of the Super Bowl-stealing Steelers, I decided an East Coast groundhog wasn't going to tell me when winter was going to end. I've enjoyed February as never before this year and considered the cold blast last week as the dying gasps of Old Man Winter 2006. I'll keep my studs on for a coupla more weeks just in case OMW has another puff in him. But the robins in my trees and the Mariners preparing to open spring training games say its spring. Hip, hip ...

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