"Baby, It's Cold Outside"

The rumble of snickering and laughing you have been hearing in the background over the course of this winter has been good ol' Mother Nature, while she has been playing pranks and making life uncomfortable all over the country.  She has just been having the best time this winter, I'll bet!   She's has dragged winter on well past the time it has usually begun to moderate.  She has popped in plunging temperatures wherever and whenever she pleases.  It does not please anyone else!  She doesn't care!

 Nearly every person you talk to from all across the country has been complaining about the snow, the cold, the ice, the wind, the sleet, what it all does to traffic, and well, gee, isn't this winter ever going to end???  Can hardly blame them, it's been pretty crazy.  Even those odd ducks (sorry, Cathy) who swear they like snow and love winter have been significantly silent this year, because the weather has pushed even them to the limits of their endurance.

Now I don't know if you've noticed, but I haven't had one post about the winter here in Austin.  This is not because it has been a sweet mild little winter.  Oh no, it is because it is so refreshing to hear everybody else kvetching over all the problem the weather has brought!   For once in my life I am not the cranky voice of one of the weather minority!  I've just been sitting here thinking "Baby, It's Cold Outside!"

Austin has delayed the opening of school or closed the schools because of the forecasted weather three times....none of which turned out to be much of anything.  Even the kids were complaining because they'll have make up days at the end of school! 

As far as I'm concerned there has been too much cold, that down-to-the-bone cold that just seeps into your fingers and toes no matter of many pairs of socks or gloves you try to wear!  Even though the actual temperatures have not dipped into frigidity very much, what we have had is a very sharp wind, very minimal precipitation, lots and lots of grey skies.  The actual temperatures mixed with the humidity, barometric pressure, and the scattered  precipitation have just been uncomfortable for a long time.  We never actually got much snow (of course Austin drivers DO NOT KNOW how to deal with any snow or ice.)  But the roads have been slick and dangerous several times and the numbers of accidents that have occurred due to those conditions has been staggering!  All of that comes with the territory of winter and as it hasn't been very rainy either (even though just about everyone would have celebrated having the drought "done in"....but that didn't happen, at least not enough!

However....you KNEW there had to be a however, I'll bet.....however, it is now the middle of March.  Things that grow are giving it their best shot.  There are a couple of different types of flowering trees and have bloomed and the flowers are actually sticking around a bit longer than usual.  I've seen daffodils popping up all over town.  It hasn't all exploded at once like sometimes happens, just a spot of color here and there.  Two nights ago, I actually heard a couple of chirping birds after many months of silence.  (Well, silent except for the grackles....they never shut up....ever!!  They don't chirp pretty little tunes, they SQUAWK....loudly!)  The flowers and the birdsong are all welcome signs of Spring.  It feels like it's been a long time coming.  Now if it would just warm up!!!

I am tired of jackets and gloves, tired of sweaters and pants all the time, tired of wearing socks, tired of dark wintry colors, and most especially tired of the wind whipping around everything from hairdos to trash cans!!   Because even though it is mid-March in Austin, TX the temperature tonight is 49 and with the wind it feels about 39F!  Yep, "Baby, It's Cold Outside." 

I know that Spring doesn't officially start for another week.  But I am ready for it NOW!!!   In fact, I think EVERYBODY is ready for it now!  Except. of course, for that tricky Mother Nature.....I wouldn't be at all surprised if she has a few more arctic blasts up her sleeve that she will let loose while she laughs out loud at all us shivery mortals! 

She's funny, that Mother Nature....oh yeah, a real hoot.  Well, I'll show her!   I've made up my mind, no Christmas present for Mother Nature next December!  Except, perhaps a lump of coal in her stocking.....though come to think of it, if it doesn't warm up soon, there probably won't be any coal left to shove in her stocking.  We will have burned it all up in our fireplaces in August!!