Friday, January 27, 2006

When Winter was Cold

Once upon a time, winter was actually a cold time of year. Of course, I should say that at that time, I lived in Oklahoma, so the winters actually meant something. California's winter sucks.

Anyway, lets not get too side tracked. I have a bad habit of that.

I remember winter as being freeze your ass off cold. I loved it! The only time of day that I did not (and still do not) like being cold was in the morning right after waking up. I would leave the heater off all winter if I had my way, or just enough to keep the pipes from freezing, and throw eight extra blankets over me at night as I slept. There is nothing that compares to sleep like that. It is the most warm, comfy sleep I have ever experienced.

Damn-it! I got sidetracked.

Well, anyway, I do have to say that I miss driving on frozen roads, as that is just too much fun...kinda like a slalom in a massive steel death trap. In December, temperature would get down to the teens (Fahrenheit) or below, and the wind chill (once described as how cold it would feel if you stand outside butt naked, but really a more complicated process than that, I am sure) would be below zero. This was winter to me.

So imagine my first year here, in California, mid January, and the low has barely gotten below 35 in the middle of the night, and the highs are up around 45-60 on average, and just realizing what time of year it is. When I finally realized when it was, I asked "When does it get cold around here?" and I am met with incredulous stares and statements of "Damn-it! It is freaking cold already!" Californians, therefore, are wimps.

And it never snows around here. Just rains through the winter. And as it never gets below freezing, we never get icy streets.

Is there a point to all this? Nope. Just my rant about missing the cold.


However, I will get to a point that I have wanted to make. There are still people who will say that there is no such thing as Global Warming. For that, after what I said about my time in Oklahoma, I have one thing to say to them: Tell that to all the people who have lost their homes in OK to fires during this unseasonably warm, unusually dry spell that has been going on since October there. This is usually part of the raining season for them. This is usually part of the freeze-your-ass-off season.


Well, anyway, that was my thought today. Just as a note, as this post has turned more serious, I wanted to say that I do not mean to insult anyone, lest of all the state that I have come to call my home, or any of the good people living here with me. It still makes me laugh to walk out of a store somewhere with my jacket hanging wide open, thinking what a pleasant, slightly chilly night it is, and to hear behind me a couple coming out and complaining about how cold it is.

And that was my Random Thought.

4 Comments:

At 6:47 PM, January 27, 2006, Blogger Mister Hand thinks...

Nice writing, Jeff, and thanks for changing the template. I didn't feel comfortable saying "MY EYES! DEAR GODM MY EYES!" before, but now I can read and read...

 
At 12:41 PM, January 28, 2006, Blogger Jeffrey E. Hunter thinks...

Coming from you, Hand, I will take that as high praise. I'm glad to know someone reads my stuff.

 
At 3:59 PM, January 29, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous thinks...

i thought the picture was awesome...where did you take that?

 
At 2:48 PM, January 30, 2006, Blogger Jeffrey E. Hunter thinks...

Actually found it online...thought it would be a good compainion to the article. Was actually hoping to find one of the houses burning in Oklahoma over the last few months, but I wasn't able to find one quickly enough, and I didn't have time to keep searching.

Glad you liked it.

 

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