Our house is situated such that the sun beats down on our front yard nearly all day (it faces southwest), and our back yard, though wide open, sees mostly just the shadow of our house and garage.  Our front lawn has been bare of snow for a week now, even during the latest storms the dusting we got instantly disappeared.  I can actually see green in my front gardens.  Tips from tulip, Iris and crocus bulbs are already nearly an inch above the soil.  Yet my back gardens are still under a foot of snow.  In fact the garden between the house and garage is so deeply buried under a snowbank that I am sure I won't see ground there until sometime in May.

Two comments on my blog about public apologies.  I love all comments on what I write, even negative ones.   They mean the reader cares enough to take the time to answer.

So the first responder was very kind, and asked what I think of Barack Obama's former preacher in light of my take of public apologies.  I'll respond to that in a minute.