Winter, Spring..It Keeps Changing Within Minutes. I'm Confused

I found some lettuce growing in my garden
today. A little weird for northern Vermont at
the end of December.  

A couple weeks ago, we had an epic snowstorm where I live in St. Albans, Vermont.

Snowstorms are de rigueur in a Vermont December, of course.

This one was different. Instead of the nice, powdery, fluffy snow we're used to in Vermont, this was a wet slush coming down from the skies.

It had the consistency of wet cement. That wet cement snapped zillions of trees and cut power to a lot of people who live here. Some people had no power for a week.

With that snow, which piled up to about 16 inches deep in my yard, I figured winter was here to stay. At least until March.

Fast forward to the day or two after Christmas. Today.

It's been above freezing for a week, and daytime temperatures have gotten as high as the 50s.

Today, my yard looked like it normally does in the beginning of November. Or early April. Spring! 

And yes, I was weeding my garden today. In Vermont.
Go figure.  

So I acted like it was the beginning of November. Or April.

I finally got around to raking the autumn leaves. I weeded the garden. I found some tasty lettuce in the garden.  

I worked in a light jacket. I worked up a sweat.

At the end of December. When I should be freezing my tush off.

It's just strange that lately in Vermont, and here's the latest example, we don't have consistent seasons anymore.

Winter no longer last months. It hits for a week, goes away, comes back, goes away, comes back, etc. from October to May.

January comes in April, and April comes at the end of December. No wonder I'm confused. 

It was too wintry in November to get my autumn
raking done, but it was pleasantly warm at the end
of December, today, so I finally worked on it.  

I enjoyed the break from winter the past couple of days. Winter is my least favorite season.

But with the weather patterns lately, I just don't know what I'm supposed to be doing.

Should I be weeding and harvesting the garden on December 27, when normally at this time of year I'd be heading off into the mountains, with a couple feet of snow underfoot, to spend the day snowshoeing?

I guess I'll garden today, and postpone my snowshoeing expeditions to Memorial Day, when we'll probably get tons of snow.