An early spring

The weather-predicting groundhog must have been right when he forecast an early spring. According to the National Weather Service, the average temperature for February in eastern Oklahoma has been 53.8 degrees, which ranks the month as the second warmest behind 54.3 in 2017. (This month’s ranking surpasses the 53.0 mark from 1930.) And the jonquils have responded to the unseasonably warm weather.

Overlooking U.S. 59, this abandoned house — bleak, dark and bereft of hope — stands in star...