Monday, January 6, 2014

Come Monday...Officially Winter

“Come Monday…” is a weekly series that will involve a review of (or commentary about) websites, movies, documentaries, television shows, sports, music, and whatever else may tickle my fancy at the time.  Be assured that these reviews will be generally positive, as in accordance to the Jimmy Buffett song “Come Monday.”  This is subject to change, however.  In fact, I would be most derelict in my duties to neglect going on a rant every once in a while.  For rants promote change, and change can be good—right?  Therefore, since good is generally considered as being a positive force in 99.3% of the parallel universes that I am aware of, even a rant could be considered as being something positive, and a genuine hissy-fit would be even better (so I’m told).

I have matured enough to where I can grin whenever hearing some bandy-legged old coot declare in no uncertain tones that the kids these days have no idea just how good they have it in comparison to the days when they had to walk uphill five miles in both directions to get to and from school.  Hey, I have even participated in that sort of thing a little bit back when I would tell rookie truck-drivers that I would have to whittle my own replacement spokes when a wheel would break as I was first starting out on the open road.

Ah, but what about the actual memories I have of it not being considered officially summer until the outside temperature reached at least 100 degrees (Fahrenheit), and the official start of winter would be below zero?  Some would argue the necessity for taking snow and tornadoes into account, but I would not.

The reason why I ask is because winter should officially make an entrance for the first time in a while around the cracking of the dawn.  It is officially 3 above at this particular moment, and our excitable weather people are calling for the temperature to get down to 6 below zero in 5-6 hours.

I can honestly say that I do not remember the last time we recorded a below zero temperature around here, but I am fairly sure that -6 is nothing to get as excited about as our local weather people are acting,  For I can remember it reaching well below zero on a fairly regular basis before 1985, which is when I moved to Amarillo, Texas and started collecting a different set of memories.

By the way, I cannot remember the last time it reached 100 during the summer around here, either.  It has come close a few times, but no cigar.  So, if you are looking for a fairly mild climate, and don’t mind an occasional tornado and/or ice storm, the southwestern part of Missouri just might be what you have been looking for.

Of course, this is the Ozarks.  So, if you don’t like the weather, just wait five minutes and it will change.

I wish I would have kept track of how many times I have heard that about the weather frequently changing in other areas over the years.  If I remember right, I heard someone say something about it around five minutes after I took my first step down Amarillo Boulevard.

Anyway, -6 is nothing to get hysterical about if one is prepared.  Now, -40 is something to be concerned with, as I found out after being out in it fixing fence for around 8 hours without nearly enough clothing on many a moon ago.  For it took another 8 hours sitting real close to a roaring wood stove before the feeling returned to my legs.

Okay, maybe our excitable weather people might have a point.  For I am not the only blithering idiot our Heavenly Father has created.

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10 comments:

  1. The climate is indeed changing but to what effect?
    Seasons are not following the pattern I recall, although it was mostly wet two days out of three!
    The jet stream is coming through Canada, North US across the Atlantic and reaching over France and Spain all the way to Italy. This is further south than usual they say.
    Rain teems down as I right and we are getting sick of this. However it is better than snow!

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  2. i hope folks can keep power during this awful weather system. we were 16F this a.m. in NE Tx and i won't complain about that.

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  3. Well sweet mother nature is reminding Minnesota of how life in winter used to be. It's a head game for sure, just remember as we stay cool in the summer, we layer the winter wear, and stay a bit more inside, own good batteries and keep the warm fires burning, animals quickly out to pee and in....and our life is amazingly Brrrr! But we're all still here, and that is good!

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  4. all I know is that it's far too cold for me. This winter is far colder than it has been in a while. We're expecting wind chills of -40.

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  5. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Adullamite!!! Well, at least the CBS Nightly News team did a good job tonight. For they had it that some parts of the country are experiencing the coldest temps in 20 years, which is a lot better than making it sound like it is something that has never been seen before.

    Speaking of 20 years ago, I was coming out of American Falls, Idaho with a load of 100 pound sacks of potatoes when the actual air temperature (not counting wind chill) reched -62 around Kemmerer, Wyoming along the route I was taking. There were hundreds of trucks with jelled-up fuel lines I passed on the side of the road. Thankfully, the fuel additive I was using proved trustworthy, but the fuel line to the refrigeration unit jelled-up. After I could not get it going on my own, I was told to place some aluminum trash cans inside of the trailer, fill them up with charcoal and light it on fire to keep the potatoes from freezing. This was done in Rock Springs, Wyoming and I dropped down to Denver to put the refer in the shop the next day. Upon delivery, none of the potatoes were rejected, but there were some comments about smelling smoke.

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  6. Thanks for stopping by, my dear TWG!!! 16 is pretty cold for you-all down there!

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  7. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Ann!!! Just make sure Duke's brandy keg is full!

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  8. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Karen!!! I think we were living out of Little Falls, Minnesota in the early 60s when the temp reached either -32 or -36, and International Falls regularly has the coldest temp in the lower 48. So, Minnesotans should be pretty used to what is going on now in other parts. In any event, I am glad you and your varmints are doing well.

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  9. There really is some cold weather going on up that way. Nature will do what it wants to do and we mere humans have very little say in the matter, if any at all.

    Stay warm.

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  10. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Lee!!! This really cold weather has made us even more appreciative of the state of Missouri's program that improved the levels of our house insulation and sealed some window air leaks a couple of years ago. There is a single wall separating where our atomic clock (with its inside temperature sensor) hangs and our enclosed (but unheated) breezeway, which is where the outside temperature sensor is located. The highest difference we have noticed so far has been 60 degrees when the clock said that it was 67 inside and 7 outside. Oh yeah, I hope you don't suffer any bad sunburns down there this time of year!

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