How's The Weather?
So last night my wife Wendy and I are in this bar here in Dunedin, Florida, on vacation and while watching the winter olympics on television we note that the temperatures there in Vancouver are only going to be about ten degrees less than they will be here.
I tell ya, there's a lot of people down south that would like to have a few words with Al Gore, that Nobel prize-winning proponent of global warming. Sure, it may be a little warm in Vancouver, but when it's unusually cold down in Florida, that's not global. Global means EVERYWHERE!
Last Friday, when we were driving down from Michigan, I breathed a sigh of relief once we hit the Tennessee border. *whew* I hate white-knuckling it on wintry roads and it had been clear and dry up to now.
Then we hit Atlanta. And it began to snow.
It was funny at first with a few flakes tumbling down. Then the real snow squalls started and kept on and kept on. Past Atlanta, past Macon, almost all the way to Florida. And the south does not do snow well. They canceled schools in the Florida panhandle. Not because snow had accumulated on the roads. Not because it had snowed at all. But just because it MIGHT snow. Those dudes need to spend a winter in Michigan.
And the drivers had no respect for snowy roads like we do up north. They kept treating I-75 like it was their own personal NASCAR track. So we passed a two-car pile-up off the shoulder, and another driver who just slid off the road and was stuck in the mud.
Here in Dunedin, I asked the waitress at the restaurant about the Mardi Gras celebration in town. She expressed doubt about the attendance because of "the weather." What?? Because of 50-degree temperatures? Hea, in my hometown of Michigan we will have thousands of folks out for the St. Patrick's Day parade AND a foot race in temperatures that very well could be in the 30s. Buck up!!
Oh, well. So much for sunning myself on the beach here. Instead of relaxing by the pool, I paddled a kayak deep into the mangroves. What's it they say--life isn't so much about Plan A, but how you handle Plan B. Something like that.
They have great fishing here. Could try that. But after making my way to the water's edge through the tall grasses, I see a sign that says "No fishing." See picture. Arghhhh.
I have a new philosophy. Michigan winters aren't so bad.
I tell ya, there's a lot of people down south that would like to have a few words with Al Gore, that Nobel prize-winning proponent of global warming. Sure, it may be a little warm in Vancouver, but when it's unusually cold down in Florida, that's not global. Global means EVERYWHERE!
Last Friday, when we were driving down from Michigan, I breathed a sigh of relief once we hit the Tennessee border. *whew* I hate white-knuckling it on wintry roads and it had been clear and dry up to now.
Then we hit Atlanta. And it began to snow.
It was funny at first with a few flakes tumbling down. Then the real snow squalls started and kept on and kept on. Past Atlanta, past Macon, almost all the way to Florida. And the south does not do snow well. They canceled schools in the Florida panhandle. Not because snow had accumulated on the roads. Not because it had snowed at all. But just because it MIGHT snow. Those dudes need to spend a winter in Michigan.
And the drivers had no respect for snowy roads like we do up north. They kept treating I-75 like it was their own personal NASCAR track. So we passed a two-car pile-up off the shoulder, and another driver who just slid off the road and was stuck in the mud.
Here in Dunedin, I asked the waitress at the restaurant about the Mardi Gras celebration in town. She expressed doubt about the attendance because of "the weather." What?? Because of 50-degree temperatures? Hea, in my hometown of Michigan we will have thousands of folks out for the St. Patrick's Day parade AND a foot race in temperatures that very well could be in the 30s. Buck up!!
Oh, well. So much for sunning myself on the beach here. Instead of relaxing by the pool, I paddled a kayak deep into the mangroves. What's it they say--life isn't so much about Plan A, but how you handle Plan B. Something like that.
They have great fishing here. Could try that. But after making my way to the water's edge through the tall grasses, I see a sign that says "No fishing." See picture. Arghhhh.
I have a new philosophy. Michigan winters aren't so bad.
posted by Big Dave T @ 4:07 AM
10 Comments:
Our weather isn't so great here i SE Pennsylvania. It's snowing again today. We have lots of years where we don't get as much snow as we have had in the past few weeks.
Luckily, I haven't had to go out and drive in snow. PA drivers aren't all that good either. And their snow removal (although better than some years) is nothing to write home about either.
I left a comment, thanking people, for the birthday wishes,on your last blog, but again I have no idea what happened to it.
I wrote how it was driving to the VA, with my veteran friend's, one is 90, two are 87, and one 78,we take turns driving, fun, oh je!
Dad
Wherever we live, we acclimate to our environment, for sure. I laugh about how my daughter in FL says 50° is cold, too. Silly girl. However, as you say, they are not used to it and not prepared to deal with snow in the south. We once spent almost 12 hours on the tarmac, at the gate and inside the Atlanta airport once because they got 1 inch of snow .... and had NO SNOW REMOVAL EQUIPMENT AT THE AIRPORT!!! I kid you not! It's nutz!
I hate to brag and tell you Dave, but since last Friday-we've been in the upper 70's. This morning, I went for my power-walk (no my husband wasn't here, but I did have my phone and son on speed dial) at 9 am and it was already a balmy 75.
hope it warms up by you-I'd hate a vacation in the cold!
I love the silence and peace that's experienced in the the waterways amongst mangroves...the only noises are the "click-click-click" and the soft rippling of the water sometimes gently lapping the water edges.
There's something special in those waterways. Sometimes when stressed when I worked and lived on Hinchinbrook Island - my escape was to the mangroves.
The only annoying thing about them are the bloody midges! And midges love me! The feeling is not reciprocated!
CASSIE--I remember jockeying around the big rigs driving on the Pennsylvania expressways very well. They're tailing you as you go down hills, then you pass them again going back up the next one.
DAD--You guys would fit in right down here in Florida. Speaking of comments, I got e-mails back from Denise, Greg, and Scott. But nothing from you. I thought maybe your computer was broken.
LYNILU--I hear that airlines are now canceling flights instead of making people wait hours on the tarmac. That way they avoid the big FAA fines.
CARINE--It certainly wasn't balmy last night for Mardi Gras here. The only consolation, according to the reports we heard, was that it was 35 degrees in New Orleans.
LEE--Midges? Not sure what they are. Some kind of Australian insect, I imagine. Probably like our pesky mosquito.
Hi Dave ~~ Sounds like it's really hard to keep a secret in your family.
And it sounded too cold and too much snow and then "No Fishing".
I am glad your Dad had a good birthday.
I think we all take too many tablets these days and I am not sure we need them all. We don't have Starbucks or
Tim Horton in Australia.
Glad you liked the Paddy jokes.
Take care, my friend,Regards, Merle.
Hot and Humid!!!!
My little sister is not quite right, we have 3or4 Starbucks, had a few more but most closed down at the start of the economic depression.
Big Dave ~ Al Gore must be doing speaking engagements in Florida now too. Why else would it be so darn COLD down there now? I feel like we are living in Alaska this winter. ~ jb///
MERLE--I always like your jokes. They really brighten my day.
PETER--That did surprise me that you wouldn't have ANY Starbucks over there. I'm not a fan though.
LZ--We heard Al Gore's name mentioned a lot by radio pundits down south there.
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