Well, what did you expect? Summer’s over — theoretically if not officially — and with it went the grand, carefree lifestyle it brings.
Now, post-Labor Day, we must prepare for the ghastly thing called winter. Let’s get serious, people, our survival hangs in the balance. This is a familiar process, these preparations. We cover the patio furniture, drag the grill into the garage, drain the lawn mower, and gas up the snowblower. Hoping, praying, this is year we won’t need it, but knowing we will.
It’s practically an annual rite. We hunker down, targets in the crosshairs, and seek shelter in wool and fleece and goose down. Thus armored we await the harsh test of endurance that lies ahead: us vs. the elements. I don’t mean elements like you’ll find on the Periodic Table, I mean the elements: weather. Things like snowflakes — by the effing zillions — sleet and ungodly cold; icicles, polar vortexes, Alberta Clippers, and nor’easters. Against this onslaught, we resort to our big guns: Gore Tex. We’re not bloodthirsty, just cold.
But, on a positive note, it could be worse. We could live in Antarctica, the southernmost continent in the world. How much worse could it be? Oh, lots worse. For instance:
~ Most of Antarctica is covered in ice over 1 mile thick. (Although with global warming … )
~ If all the ice in Antarctica were to melt, sea levels would rise 200 feet — plus or minus.
~ About 90% of the Earth’s ice is located in Antarctica and 70% of the world’s fresh water.
~ There are no polar bears in Antarctica, but plenty of penguins and seals.
~ The coldest recorded temperature on this planet occurred in 1983 at Vostok Station in Antarctica, a brisk −128.6 °F. (−89.2 °C).
Boys and girls, winter this way comes. Run. Run for your lives.
Copyright © 2015 publikworks
the whirly girl 
15 responses to “: and noses return to grindstones :”
Winter basically just means Christmas in our house — fun for the kids, a death-defying bank balancing act for me.
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Five months of Christmas? Will you adopt me?
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Not more presents!
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Oh, come on, I’m not greedy. Two dozen at most. And, for your shopping convenience, I’m partial to high end stuff
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I was going to check my wallet to see if I could afford to have you stay, but apparently it ran off shrieking during the night and hasn’t been seen since.
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If I see it, I’ll grab it :o)
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Please let me know if you see it. If I don’t get it back soon, looks like my boys will be back working up chimneys again. :(
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Thanks ever so much for the chilly reminder. In the words of Bob from “Justified”
Say frosty. *grin*
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No. I won’t say frosty. I won’t say chilly. I’ll say cold. And benumbed. And glacial. Frosty? No.
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Way to just skip over pumpkin and turkey weather and go right to straight bourbon climes.
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Wasn’t that smooth? They’re just the preliminaries, anyway.
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Thank you for the reminder, guess I will have to call Valentine’s Furs and make an appointment to pick up my fur from storage. Yes, the name of my furrier is also my name, no it isn’t a coincidence. Twenty-three years ago when I decided to thumb my nose at all the politically correct nonsense of not wearing mink, I found Valentine’s in Dallas and thought, that is too cool so that is where I went to buy, they store, clean and pet my mink ever since.
Winter comes to Dallas, I wear fur!
But for now, Winter is not here not even close. I will not wear gortex (what is that?).
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You can tell you’re not from around here. Gore Tex is a tough, durable fabric for winter wear that’s supposed to be impervious to cold. It isn’t, though. Nothing is.
Fur comes close, but nope. Not even that. Forced air heating is the only possible solution.
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I don’t believe in cold. This is a true statement. My whine starts at anything below 50 and doesn’t end until the temp is above 70 again.
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That’s two of us! Except my threshold is 80. I’m not a timid person, but I have a very real fear of being cold. I know it’s stoopid and makes me a wuss, but there it is. I don’t like it, but I can’t change it.
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