GLOBAL COLDING

I don’t know what’s going on in my neck of the world. Temperatures are in the 90’s and 100’s across our nation. Not on the other side of my window. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. I like it here. But I have been wearing a sweatshirt the past several days. Our nightly repast on the front porch, in our rocking chairs with lap blankets, has not lasted long. It is just too cold. Most of the USA may have global warming, but we have global colding.

I don’t want 100-degree temperatures, but 70 would be nice. Most of us who live in the northwest do so because this part of the world is a little cooler, but this is ridiculous. Now the local weather forecasters are saying to brace ourselves for a winter like 2008. If you don’t live out here, you have no reason to remember ’08. It depends on whom you ask as to what they think. My grand kids thought it was the best winter they’ve had in their short lives. It was the most snow I’ve seen on the west side of the mountains in the 28 years I have lived here.

It was a Christmas truly worthy of the title “White Christmas.” My family live on the side of a very large hill. Not called a mountain here, but it would be the highest mount in Saskatchewan. They had a few days where they parked near the bottom of their hill and walked the remaining mile home. On Christmas day my son-in-law had to come get me with his four-wheel drive Jeep and take be to their house. He drove way south of his house and came in on a long back road that ended up about a football field length from their house. We hiked through the woods to their home. It was a gorgeous Christmas. Truly what northern dwellers think Christmas should be like. It was terrific. But I would have been happy to see it go away the next day. It didn’t. We had many a day when that patterned repeated.

I grew up in snow. Not mountains, but hills and snow. I loved the snow and the sledding and the fort building and the snowman building and the angel making and the snowball fights. But those days are long gone. When we first moved here with their usually snowless Christmas’ we had to adjust. It didn’t take long. There is lots of rain, but we reasoned, at least you don’t have to shovel it. I have really adjusted to that and again hope for a shovel free winter.

What am I talking about? I don’t care for the yard or the walk any more. We have people. Let it snow; let it snow; let it snow.