2026 W8: Particularly portentous

§ Happy year of the fire horse . I can’t help but think it feels like a particularly portentous designation. § As the snow cover continues to recede the starlings and the sparrows and the robins all descend to comb the muddy lawn and fill their stomachs. We have our first signs of life in the garden: eight of the garlic cloves I planted last October have started sprouting. Is it too early for them…