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Not So Long Ago …

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… it was the most miserable, relentless winter, ever! Remember that?

Our memories are amazingly short and I suppose it’s a human survival strategy to focus so intently on the conditions that are right in front of us that we assume it has always been, and will always be so. At least it feels that way, and that’s why I am always ready to complain.

Summer 2011 is an endless sauna. I have had it with heat and humidity. Really, it’s exhausting.

Last February, snowstorms were lined up from here to Montana, each waiting for its chance to fill my driveway with another three feet of snow. Just like now – exhausting. I thought I would never feel warm again.

Alas, it all changes and you can be sure that six months from today I’ll use the arrival of yet another cold front to wistfully recall how gorgeous it is to go for a walk on a summer night. At dusk a day in July feels perfectly suited to human habitation. This is how we were meant to live – in shorts and sandals, our hands and heads uncovered, our feet and toes exposed to the fragrant air.

Except on THIS particular July night, I’m closed up inside my air conditioned box, not at all inclined to go out. Instead I’m thinking about how cozy it would feel to be decorating the Christmas tree while alarmist weather-folk warn us to stay off the roads. I’d sip a hot toddy and gaze out the window, safe and warm while a holly jolly snow decorates the yard.

I guess conditions are never quite ideal, except in some far-off, half-recalled, make-believe time.

Perpetual Summer or Endless Winter – which would you choose?

64 thoughts on “Not So Long Ago …”

  1. Mornin’ All. Thanks for those lovely, cooling winter pictures, Dale. Thanks, but no thanks, Dale, I’m not going there. I live in Minnesota precisely because I wanted four seasons. I know, i know, there are cynics who claim Minnesota has only one season, winter, and a couple of months of poor skiing, but I’m not in that camp. I will admit that had I realized how extreme the temperatures can get here, at either end of the spectrum, I might have considered another state. But perpetual summer has not appeal to me, and I’d prefer winter to exit on March the 2nd on the dot.

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  2. Rise and Shine Baboons:

    I’m with PJ — 4 seasons, lots of griping, a lot to gripe about. We have family in Phoenix which I find to be shallow, filled with unpleasant people, and short of water. And the TV stations there have 24 hours of gospel preachers in both Spanish and English. This is entertainment?

    I like a predictable change. Four seasons for me.

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  3. Good morning to all,

    Do I have to choose? How about spring and fall? Will those two seasons be gone?. Well, if I have to choose, it would be summer. Perpetual winter would be just be too much to take. I don’t like heat, but I think it would be better than having nothing but cold weather. Continuous winter would make gardening very hard. I guess I could put up a very big green house.

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  5. Like my fellow Baboons, I’m reasonably happy with what we’ve got. I LIKE WINTER and we get a goodly amount of it here, with just enough heat and humidity in the summer to fill the root cellar (if I were a better and more diligent gardener) and help us appreciate the winter even more.

    But to actually answer the question, if I really, really had to choose, I’d have to take the summer, as a purely practical matter. Too hard to be a mostly vegetarian locovoire with nothing but winter. One can only do so much with reindeer moss and lichens.

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  6. My reaction to winter is somewhat influenced by what my commuting situation is. When I had a long commute to work – for quite a few years it was an hour each way on a good day – I dreaded heavy snowfalls and the long crawl down the freeway. Bitter cold meant that if the bus was five minutes late it seemed like five hours.

    Then I had a work-from-home job in the wintertime, and winter turned into a cozy experience, working in fuzzy slippers with a fleece throw across my lap, with a pot of spiced apple cider simmering on the stove, or later in the afternoon, bread and potatoes baking in the oven. When you don’t have to try to get across town in it, snow can be very lovely.

    I don’t fare very well in extreme heat, but maybe my threshold for heat is higher than other people’s. Last Monday and Tuesday – that’s what I consider hot, when the heat index goes over a hundred. Yesterday was okay – a little humid, but not bad. You can work in that.

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    3. my daughters pitching coach opened up his barn anbd went out there to stand and coach two groups of girls last night and two groups tonight. i am lucky and don’t sweat much. i notice heat or cold kind of last as the rest of the world has decided way earlier what the deal is… he was out there just walking from girl to girl giving words of encouragement and i noticed by the end of the first hour as we left he was drenched in sweat. doing it for the love of his girls. thye worked up a pretty good sweat too throwing for an hour. but hey how about those twins playing ball everyday we had the 100 degree stuff going on. a double header on monday at 100+ …reminds me of the days when we would play football outdoors in -20 and beat the los angeles and dallas teams just by showing up with the proper attitude.
      attitude is all it takes. buck up baboons. we can handle life on the trail no matter what it throws at us.
      hey did uyou hear michelle bachmann spends 4000 a week on hair an d make up? source letterman ( his punchline was so does her husband…)

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  7. During a summer like this, I definitely prefer winter. Walking through a winter wonderland (in my winter underwear), drinking hot drinks, reading a good book & wearing warm jammies around the house in the long, dark evenings. I tend to forget the short daylight that can drive me batty by the end of February, the endless snow to shovel, and driving on icy roads.

    If summer could only be like it was here on Sunday. Low humidity, sunshine, and low 80s. I worked a good part of the day pulling the giant weeds and it felt hot while working, but hot in a good way. And when I was tired, sitting in the shade with an iced beverage and the breeze on my face felt absolutely perfect. And the evening was so refreshingly cool. But high heat and humidity makes me want to lie down and die…if that is summer, than i don’t want it. But If I had only winter, I would never have fresh basil in my garden and raspberries and black currants growing in my back yard…

    Maybe I would take summer if it was a summer like it is on the north shore…long hours of daylight, rarely over 80 degrees, a nice breeze, and cool evenings.

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      1. never been to san diego but i’m thinking that summer on the north shore isn’t quite the same. a little more variety, maybe.

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  8. When I was younger I had more tolerance for cold winter weather and really didn’t like hot weather. Now I think I would rather put up with the heat. I have become one of those people who wonder why they live here in the winter. However, I’m not ready to join the Minnesotans who live in the South during the winter.

    Parts of Bolivia have a very interesting climate. La Paz, Bolivia is located high up in the mountains, but doesn’t have much cold weather because it is not too far from the equator. They have palms and tropical fruit. I think it would a nice place to live as far as the climate is concerned. Some La Paz hotels and homes have no heating systems and it does get a little cold in those places at night during winter. The tops of the tallest mountains near La Paz are snow covered.

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    1. Jim, I hear ya. What’s your relationship with La Paz?

      Part of the trouble with winter for me is icy sidewalks and roads. I’m petrified of falling and I hate driving on icy roads. A couple of weeks in Mexico in February help recharge my batteries to endure whatever the weather gods dish up in March.

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      1. I did volunteer agricultural work in Bolivia for three weeks a few years ago and spent part of that time in La Paz. I did a lot of traveling on scary mountain roads and also saw a little of the lower lying areas that connect with the Amazon River basin.

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      5. Yaktrax do help. Last winter was beastly for walking and driving. When I walked, the worst part was getting to the corners and finding a mound of hard-packed snow & slick ice about 2-4 feet high. I would have to climb up the slippery slope and then stand there teetering at the top waiting to make sure no cars were coming and then run down the other side, which meant I would run halfway into the street (which is why I had to make sure no cars were coming). Doing that for a mile of walking is No Fun.

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  9. I’d have to vote for summer, but i would also miss winter. I am hoping for a late fall this year, as I would like to have tomatoes that actually ripen on the vine. After living here and in Winnipeg, it gets tiresome planting the shortest season veggies all the time. I like having 4 seasons and would miss the variety if I only had one to contend with. It is a good day today since the new dishwasher is being installed this afternoon.Our old one bit the dust three weeks ago.

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  10. I guess I’m a four-season kinda gal. Could I have perpetual September-October? That would be absolutely perfect. There is no time of year I like better. I love September’s sparkling days and October’s bonfires.

    I enjoy the beauty of a fresh snowfall and the way everything gets quiet and muffled in December. I love hoar frosts. I like to curl up in jammies on the couch and read or crochet and I love the comforting sound the radiator pipes make when the boiler is on. I like x-c skiing and snowshoeing and being in the silent, gray and white woods in winter. Mid-winter is a great time to listen for owls in the woods. They’re very active – territorial and nesting – at that time, also easier to spot when the leaves are off the trees. In recent years I’ve begun to fear falling in the woods when I’m out there alone but it doesn’t stop me from going.

    In summer, I enjoy the harvests of homegrown veggies and herbs and the very long evenings. I also love the colors of summer. The sunrises and sunsets are so beautiful and the changing colors of light on water are an endless fascination for me. But humidity really makes me curl up and die. I start feeling overheated – REALLY – when the temperature is over 65 F. Like Dale described, I feel trapped in my box in July. If I’m going to be trapped inside, I’d like it to be winter. My backyard is seriously infested with mosquitoes right now. I picked green beans last night and had to wear a bug suit. Even with that armor, I was covered with bites. I have itchy bites on my face, neck, hands – everywhere. A small cloud of mosquitoes came in the house with me and I was tormented all night as I tried to sleep. Pippin’s walks have been very short lately.

    Have a great day, baboons!

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    1. Lovely descriptions Krista – I agree wholeheartedly (except for the crocheting…I don’t have the patience to learn to do it well – admire those who can and do).

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      1. totally random question, Anna-Have you ever been to Stephen B/ The Yarn Garage? It’s not your granny’s yarn store and I think you and the DD might get a kick out of it- just for the whacky craftiness of it all.

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    2. Another fall favorite, walks in the woods and picking wild mushrooms (not necessarily at the same time, although often one leads to the other). I absolutely LOVE the smell of the fallen leaves. I also like fall clothes. In summer I have a hard finding something cool enough to wear that I actually am presentable in, and then there’s the issue that if you dress for the weather outside, you’ll be too cold in most air conditioned places. But is fall, you can wear clothes that look good and feel good, without all the layers of winter. FALL RULES!

      OT: Just weeded for an hour. Temps tolerable, no bugs, and soil nice and moist from all the rain, but the humidity is a killer. Tomatoes coming along nicely. Anybody need some arugula? I have lots. Linda? You’re in my neck of the woods.

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      1. Totally hear you about the clothes – as well as loving fall!!. If I still had the body I had a few years ago (or a few decades ago, but who’s counting?), it would be easier to dress for hot weather. I still can’t stand the heat and humidity, but I suppose it would make it a bit more tolerable.

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      2. i am coming your way tomorrow for the lowertown festival. i would love some arugula unless i ride my bike then the cooler doesn’t work. i will decide and let you know. thanks for the offer

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  11. That’s harsh, Dale, just choose between those two?? Funny, I was thinking the same thing yesterday – would I rather have WINTER? I guess not, if I had to choose, I’d keep summer, but NOT HERE if this summer keeps repeating. Yellowstone was in the 70s.

    I got up early this morning (6:30) to enjoy the outdoors before it hits again. Monday (like Sunday, Edith) was to me the perfect summer day, and I got hours of weeding done. I love how lush the rain has made everything, but OMG, every day or two after one of these soft, night-long rains is like a steam bath. I too wilt in the heat, totally.

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  12. Count me as well in the “all four seasons, please” camp. Love crisp late September days, June and its breezes, December snows, the first rains in April…ice skating in January when the ice is cold enough to make really good shushing sounds is hard to beat, though. If forced to choose, I think I’d choose winter – but would need to be sure that the Como Conservatory was still available for me to go sit in when I need to smell damp earth and feel warm sunshine on my face through the windows.

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  13. I forget – what other Baboon(s) is without A/C? As was mentioned, we don’t like closing up the house, so we don’t have it. But I shade the rooms where the sun is, so end up feeling closed in from lack of light; not sure which is better. That one hottest week we spent a lot of time in the basement!

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    1. ac died in the beginning of the heat spell. it sure makes a difference with vs without air. got it back yesterday and celebrated the cool evening

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    2. Like you, we have it, but I am too cheap and too claustrophobic to run it ( why I feel shut in in the summer but cozy in the winter, I can’t say).

      We employ the same strategies you do, BiR and a cold wet towel around the neck when it gets really beastly.

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    3. BiR, we have a couple of window air conditioners. One in the bedroom. Can’t sleep in 80+ degrees. The other, sort of a joke really, can keep the living room/dining room tolerable most days. Don’t use it that much, but on extremely humid days, it does help.

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    4. We don’t have AC. We have electric heat in the house so there’s no ductwork either. It’s not ‘just’ that I’m cheap…
      So we have lots of fans. Close the blinds in the day, put fans in the windows to pull outside air in at night.
      And we just deal with it.

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  14. Morning–

    Had to skim over today’s entries so far, will read more thoroughly later but I’d like all four seasons as well please.

    I hatched six chicks in an incubator here at home yesterday and this morning picked up 30 guinea keets from the post office. (“I’m here to pick up chicks….”).
    They’re all settled comfortably together in their new home. Remember I mentioned putting some eggs under a hen that wanted to set? Nothing from her. Slacker.

    Later!

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      1. She’s still sitting there on the eggs… just nothing has developed. So to speak. ….
        But I did have one late hatch from the incubator this afternoon.

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      4. Got a second late hatcher in the incubator tonight. And the guinea keets and baby chicks weren’t getting along; the keets were picking on the chicks so I had to separate them tonight.
        I don’t really name the layers… other than generic ‘Hey You’, ‘Blackie’ or ‘Girlie’. Or ‘Sweetheart’. I tend to call a lot of animals ‘Sweetheart’. (I don’t mean that in the chauvinistic way). Of course I had Rita, the theater chicken from Theatre de la Juene Lune. And Venus, her jealous understudy.

        They can lay for a few years although production drops off as they get older. In their prime first years, seven hens might get you about 5 eggs / day. Some days you might get 7 but then only 4 the next day…It’s not quite 1 egg / day / hen.

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  15. years ago that guitar teacher who told me to enjoy those april and may days because they were the only ones that allowed you to enjoy the outdoor guitar playing on the porch. well he got me counting erfect days and while i am alittle more liberal than most the true number of perfect das in an average year is only about 10 a good year is 30 the last two years have been exceptional with days that you would love to be outside with not too much heat or humidity and bugs at tollerable levels. this year heat and humidity and bugs ar all up but thats whey they call them averages.
    i have also noted that an average year presents 10 hot days and 10 cold days. no more no less we just remember them and the others go unnoticed no one ever recalls weather i jsut read abut in my 1987 journal entry noting winter wth lows at night above 0 and highs around 30 with snow barely covering the ground and then melted off by the sunshine. on this tpic i had a guy tell me years ago that if i am going to live in minnesota i should find something to enjoy outside in the winter therwise it is 6 months of hiding out and wasting the experience. i took this to heart and tried snowmobiling (not my cup of tea) and ended up with cross country skiing as the activity f choice. did you know the ideal emperature for cross country skiing is -10 degrees? zero is waty to warm, yo sweat like a pig at 20. below zero is good but -10 is the best for me. summer is more tolerable if you remember that the sweltering heat when added up totals 10 days combined usually 20 in an extreme case. so hang in there. our frail little bodies like that temperature range between 68 and 78 and much outside that you wil find discomfort. whaaaaa. toughen up midwesterners.
    honalulu and sandiego are there for weenies who want to sleep with their windows open but step over the street people who like moderate weather too.
    i would love to do la paz and some of those places . i find wonderful places all over the world. the trick is to figure out how to eat for a couple of years while you are there if you decide to stay.

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  16. I will weigh in with the four-seasons crew. BUT, if I absolutely was forced to choose, I’d have to take summer – we bike at 6 AM each morning which is lately the best and only option for “healthy exercise” – meaning avoiding heat stroke. Winter means indoors in the cold basement on a stationary bike and I hate that! Summer also means lovely fresh fruit and veggies; winter means root crops, soups and stews – not bad at all but not better. And I would complain A LOT about the heat and humidity. Scary to think that our global warming trajectory might mean this is the new MN summer norm…ugh.

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    1. No early morning biking or walks at our house, June. That is too early in the day for walking or biking as far as we are concerned and we are missing some of our evening walks due to the hot weather. I think summer is a good time to go swimming if you have a good place to go. We don’t.

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    2. welcome june, nice to see a new name. 6 am bike rides. you and clyde have the cycle bug as a common thread. looking forward to other observations. but you know you didn;t have to mention thsi could become the norm. thats depressing

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      2. we go through spells of this stuff you missed the 60’s eh? but i am concerned enough to plan my trip to see killamnajaro and the likes for the next 5-10 years . i read tday columbia has already lost 5 of their 8 snow caps. it is very depressing. glad i am not on one of those islands where the highest evlevation is 20 feet or so. they will be gone. the only thing more depressing than global warming is thinkig about bush getting his guys to say it wasn’t for real

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  18. Fire and Ice (Robert Frost)

    Some say the world will end in fire;
    Some say in ice.
    From what I’ve tasted of desire
    I hold with those who favor fire.
    But if it had to perish twice,
    I think I know enough of hate
    To say that for destruction ice
    Is also great
    And would suffice.

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  19. well, as usual, i can’t decide. from the goats’ perspective they might say winter – the heat is hard on them. but then we just got in from eating about a ton of wild green stuff and they would certainly miss that. we’ll say Spring – late May. the kids are growing and playing, the pasture is green and there’s lots of milk. 🙂 before the ticks and after the icy rain.
    or, Fall….
    i’m sorry.

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  20. OT – I’ve finally made it through last weeks guest blogs (nice going, everyone) and would like to add to the july with a capital j listings:
    This is the last week of the Great River Shakespeare Festivel in Winona.
    http://grsf.org/

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  21. Evening–

    Man, I’d hate to have to live with just one or the other…can I move back and forth? I’d choose winter first but I really don’t want to be stuck with that. I mean if I wanted endless winter I’d live in Minnesota or something. Oh. Wait.
    Bob Collins quoted Dale on the News Cut today and made a survey question the same as Dales. (although it doesn’t seem to show up on my crummy, ‘bogged-down-by-the-steamy-weather-thank-you-wild-blue’ internet). I heard him say that winter was ahead but sometime next winter he’ll ask again.

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