by jphilo | Mar 19, 2013 | Top Ten Tuesday
Once March arrived, winter in these parts decided to dig in its white heels and stick around. Since the strategy is proving highly effective, this week’s top ten list extols the reasons to be happy for a late spring and make hay even when the sun don’t shine.
10. Extra winter makes northerners appreciate spring more when it finally does arrive.
9. We get more wear out of winter clothes.
8. A late, cold spring gives female rabbits headaches, and therefore has a dampening effect on the rabbit population.
7. The cold weather makes midwesterners more sympathetic toward Canadians.
6. Shivering gives spring sport athletes an Iron Man or Iron Woman aura.
5. Less time in the sun = less chance of skin cancer.
4. When the weather’s cold, teachers have an easier time keeping their students’ noses to the grindstone.
3. That first grilled meal of spring tastes better when it’s a long time coming.
2. The apple trees bloom later, so there’s less chance of a late frost nipping their buds.
1. A cold spring makes spring break trips to points south seem like a good investment.
What’s good about a late spring in your book? Leave a comment!
by jphilo | Feb 26, 2013 | Top Ten Tuesday
Winter came to visit last week, not as fiercely as the weather forecasters predicted. But it covered the ground with a clean, white reminder of the top ten good things about snowstorms.
10. The prospect of a humdinger of a snowstorm breaks the monotony of the job for weather forecasters, especially after last winter’s incredibly boring and blizzard-free weather.
9. When a snowstorms hits, those of us with sense enough to stay home feel far superior to the TV news reporters who stand on the edge of the snowy freeway, gravely reminding viewers to “Stay home and don’t even think about driving in this!” Hmmm, do you suppose the reporter and the film crew walked or drove to the freeway?
8. White snow is prettier than brown, dead grass.
7. The snow makes it easier to track the critters who hang around the yard, possibly lowering your house’s resale value.
6. A cold, snowy day makes a person much more thankful for a warm and cozy house.
5. The reflection of light on white snow makes a sunny day seem even sunnier.
4. The prediction of a snowstorm brings back the Will school be called off? pit-of-the-stomach excitement and uncertainly of childhood.
3. Being home during a snowstorm is a good excuse to bake something yummy.
2. Every snowstorm means spring is one day closer.
1. Snowstorms bring back memories of past winter adventures: my little brother ordering a rose for Mom during a Valentine’s Day storm and asking for it to be delivered; Hiram picking up his mom at the Rapids City airport during a May blizzard, after she purposely scheduled her visit to avoid a blizzard; watching my kids, bundled in snowpants and coats, dig tunnels in the snow piles around the garage.
How about you? What memories come to your mind when it snows?
by jphilo | Jan 24, 2013 | Three Thoughts for Thursday
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The high temperature in Iowa has been hovering around 20°. The high temperature in Corpus Christi, Texas has been about 70°. No wonder Texas has to be such a big state. They need lots of extra room for snow birds.
- This week I’ll be a Corpus Christi snow bird–for work, not pleasure–for the first time ever. Any advice on how to break my January habit of packing wool sweaters and socks? Should I take a cowboy hat instead?
- My Texas drawl is sadly lacking. But I’m working really hard to stop answering questions with, “Yah, sure, you betcha.” No sense having people think I’m from Minnesota.
by jphilo | Jun 19, 2012 | Top Ten Tuesday
Yesterday, the weather was hot, steamy, and breezy – our first 90+ day of the year. The sweltering and sweating that accompanied the temperatures revealed these top ten benefits to hot weather:
10. Days like yesterday take the bloom off the I-want-to-live-on-a-tropical-island fantasy.
9. Days like yesterday make winter more attractive.
8. Hot weather motivates me to get up early to walk, and then I feel ahead of schedule all day long.
7. Hot afternoons means either grilling or cold supper to keep the heat out of the kitchen. Yum to both prospects!
6. I have less appetite on hot days. This phenomenon has not yet translated into consistent summer weight loss, but hope springs eternal in this human’s hips.
5. The heat make a person grateful for air conditioning
4. Hot days are a convenient excuse for staying inside to write instead of doing yard work.
3. This is sweet corn weather. Can’t you just taste it?
2. Ditto for tomato weather.
1. Days like yesterday give grandmas-in-training an excuse to take the neighbor kids to the pool and soak up the sunshine together.
What are benefits do 90+ days hold for you? Leave a comment.
by jphilo | Apr 16, 2012 | Walking Down the Gravel Road
Ever since The Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper created the word “prevening” to refer the hours in late afternoon hours and early evening, I’ve been waiting for a chance to coin a word, too. The crazy weather of the last six weeks – our April-like March and now our March-like April – provided the perfect opportunity to combine the two into one new month.
I call it Marpril.
The original plan was to flip flop the order of the two months, putting April in front of March from now on. It seemed like a good solution last week during March-in-April when three nights of hard frost did damage to the magnolia tree’s leaves rather than to the blossoms as usually happens. But this year, the magnolia tree bloomed and dropped it’s petals during April-in-March. But, the flip flop plan died during this past weekend’s normal rootin’ tootin’ April weather display, complete with wind, thunder, lightning, rain, and tornadoes. Hence, my elegant, new word solution emerged.
Marpril
A lovely word, don’t you think? But a dark side hides behind the loveliness. In Marpril, frost can shrivel magnolia leaves. It can turn crab apple blossoms brown,
put an end to dreams of cherry picking in June,
blacken some peony buds while leaving others untouched,
and fill the rain barrel over and over and over.
Lovely, deceptive, and dangerous.
That’s our Marpril.
A month not to be trifled with nor savored. A month which seduce with warm temperatures during the prevening hours, then ushers in a cold front the minute your back is turned. A two month period, which could stretch into three. In which case I’m ready with another new word.
Maypril.
My words are gonna make the next edition of Webster’s. You can count on it. Which is more than can be said for March and April Marpril.
