So the in-like-a-lion thing presented itself up just a wee bit harsher and earlier than expected this year when three feet of snow blanketed Prince William County during February.

A look outside this week though showed that, perhaps, the out-like-a-lamb take is ready to make its own early cameo with an even milder approach.

Temperatures hovering in the 50s and even 60s brought construction crews out in earnest Monday, from the Interstate 66 - U.S. 29 interchange in Gainesville to drainage workers in Braemar. It was a welcome change for pace for Hercules Fencing foreman Carlos Hernandez, who said that instead of spending a whole day digging out from the snow, his guys could actually concentrate on installing fences all along the northeast part of Linton Hall Road.

"The schedule was real slow," he said Monday about working in February.

Sure, Linton Hall Road is temporarily a one-lane highway on the northern side, but it also means work can continue too. Four tiers high and stretching from near the Bristow shopping center to about a quarter of a mile before Linton Hall School, the white wooden fences his company is putting up can already be seen by commuters making their way in and out of Bristow.

Over at a Victory Lakes playground, nanny Lacey Lancaster pushed a little buggy around as kids ran to her right.

Looking at the little girl in the cart, Lancaster said, "She's really seeing things for the first time" in a way that she can remember them.

So why not take advantage of the playground when nature offers? Six-year-old Bradley Church of Bristow sure did. Dawned in a batman outfit, he jumped in place and gave two thumbs up when his mother Leslie asked him what he thought about the weather outside.

Like Lancaster, Leslie Church said Monday marked the first time she took Bradley and his 4-year-old brother J.T. to the playground this year.

"(We) haven't been out here since," she said, a she paused and thought back.

December? November?

Let's just say it's been a while.

What a welcomed return it is.