February 24, 2017
I think it was Will Rogers who said everyone talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it.
Our first big snow was December 6…at least that’s the date identified by the mail lady, and who argues with the USPS? After weeks of snow and freezing temperatures, I’ve morphed into an obsessive weather watcher. If I don’t like one forecast, I search the net looking for one I like better. (And I have found a favorite weather woman. She is all about the forecast, and seems to share my fascination with the variables that shape our weather. The rest seem more about looking good on TV.)
It was Robert Grover, author of the “The One-Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding” who created the character of Kitten, a prostitute who only wanted to watch “the numbers.” She said it was the only thing real on TV. Years ago I read about half the book before I realized she was talking about the weather, and that she was smarter than the college kid she was with. And you have to admit…Kitten may have had a point.
Every morning I trade weather emails with an old friend living in another part of Oregon. He’s also obsessive about weather forecasts. He has a terrific memory and sends me tales of long ago winter storms he says “we” lived through as we were growing up. I don’t always remember the same storms, which doesn’t say anything about my memory, but it does say a lot about the details that drive our memories.
As Spring claws its way into my life again, I keep wondering what in the heck am I going to talk about when the weather turns nice again? Maybe I’ll do a Summer Morph, although I have promised not to cuss summer heat.
Rod