The Baboon Congress, Weather

Upbeat Up North

36 Comments

Today’s guest post comes from Clyde of Mankato.

For our second of two anniversary parties—two is excessive, I know, but you have to go where the crowds are—we drove up to Two Harbors, which proved to be a mostly foggy weekend on The Lake. Strangers we encountered, such as store clerks, made comment or even apologized about the weather. Not one friend said a word. Locals know and accept the beauty of The Lake in all her clothing.

Sandy and I like Superior in her dark and diaphanous gowns. We were in a fine mood ourselves from the party, which the weather only enhanced.

Do you take your mood from the weather?

36 thoughts on “Upbeat Up North”

  1. Yes, but like you and Sandy, I love a foggy morning. We are close enough to the river that every so often, the fog fills the street on front of our otherwise mundane street and rolls right up to the porch and it feels like we live in a houseboat.

    A hot bright sunny day just feels like a personal challenge.

    Best trip to a beach I’ve ever had was going to Rehobeth (Delaware) in October. There was hot coffee and warm caramel corn to be had and the only other people out were a couple of guys practicing for the upcoming surf fishong tournament.

    I saw postcards for sale with pictures of the beach in high summer in which you could not see the sand it was so covered with people.

    Made me shudder.

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    1. I learned the word “diaphanous” after a girl I knew wore a rather sheer gown in a production of ‘Dracula’. And a friend said her gown was diaphanous. Oh. That’s why I liked it so much.

      There was another play, ‘The Diviners’, that Kelly was in with our good friend, Paul. In the play Paul’s character said to Kelly’s character– in reference to the weather, “It’s a nice night for sleepin.”
      “Don’t I know it…” was the reply.
      We use it often being sure to get just the right country slangy drawl to it.

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  3. Lovely Clyde! When I was younger and living elsewhere, the weather made me crabby A LOT. In fact, many folks have heard me say that the number 1 reason I moved away from home was to get away from the weather. But these days, I pretty much like all the weather – because really… you can’t do anything about it (except move), so might as well embrace it!

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  4. Only when it’s been really dreary in the rainy shoulder seasons like April or November. 4-5 days of clouds and drizzle bums me out.

    But I embrace the changing weather in MN. One of the best reasons to live here. Brisk September days with a NW wind and temps in the 60s as scattered clouds race past are glorious, as is that first day in May when you realize all the flora are leafing out and it’s impossible to count the number of shades of green I see out my office window.

    Then there’s the nervous tension of a sultry, stormy summer evening (much like last night) when a thunderstorm or worse approaches and I mentally run through my emergency procedures checklist (like make sure to have a corkscrew in the wine cellar/storm shelter– 🙂 ).

    Since I was born in January, I love those frigid mornings after a snowfall when the sun is painfully bright, the snow is white-white, and the sky is the bluest sky blue there can be.

    And of course, who doesn’t love that certain day in October when all the trees have turned and we are treated to a visual definition of that special season?

    So yeah, I guess I DO take my mood from the weather, but I usually manage to give that mood a positive spin.

    Chris in Owatonna

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  5. Love the image of Lake Superior in a diaphanous gown. One of my favorite things about living in Grand Marais the summer I was there was Superior in fog. Glad I didn’t have to navigate it, though.

    My moods mostly don’t follow weather – though I did have a day awhile back where the day was grey and possibly rainy and so was I. Stayed inside and did very little (so did the weather). Generally I am weather independent – sunny when it is gray, sunny when it is sunny…occasionally remarkably cranky when it’s hot and humid and then warm and cozy when the cold winds blow (I survive cold better than heat).

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  6. Good morning. Sunny days that aren’t too hot do lift my spirits. I don’t mind cloudy, rainy, or foggy days as long they don’t occur continuously for a long time. If rain is not too heavy I will stay outside and don’t mind getting a little wet. Sun shine is also nice in the winter. I have become less tolerant of very hot or very cold days. It seems that air conditioning has weakened my ability to handle hot weather. I think getting old has caused me to be less tolerant of very cold weather.

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    1. Aging and me: much more tolerant of heat, but may just be more used to it after moving south. Less tolerant of cold, but may not be hardened to it.

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  7. OT – At BBC yesterday I said I could be backup host for the Oct. 25 meeting if BiR didn’t get home from a trip as currently planned. I find that is not true. I will not be able to host or attend that meeting. Sorry. Carry on.

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  9. In subtle ways my mood is affected by the weather, but generally I embrace all kinds of it, and I don’t suffer from seasonal affective disorder.

    A lot of Americans think of Scandinavia as a cold place, and I”m often asked what it was like growing up in Denmark. When I respond that Denmark has a coastal climate, many are surprised. But I grew up having never experienced extreme temperatures of either heat or cold.

    All of that changed when I moved to the US. That first winter in Wyoming was a shocker; we were inundated with snow. Fortunately I had bought myself an old second-hand army parka while I was in Greenland, so I muddled through, and actually enjoyed it. A couple of years later, the steamy hot summers of Southern Illinois were a rude awakening.

    Wasband and I deliberately chose to come to the Twin Cities because of its reputedly cold winters. I had no idea of the severity of them, and the hot humid summer days were a complete surprise.

    We arrived in the Twin Cities in the fall, and it was just gorgeous weather. One thing that made an immediate impression, however, were the Snow Emergency Route signs. I had no idea what they meant, but they seemed to portend winters even worse than what I had imagined. I figured if a place had enough snow that they needed to designate routes where people could go for help in case of a snow emergency, it had to be pretty bad. I soon learned their more practical and less dramatic function.

    But you adjust. I am happy, though, that it’s now within our means to escape for a couple of weeks, if need be, when winter seems interminable. Toward the middle of February a couple of weeks on a warm beach is good.

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  10. Yesterday we had deliciously cool breezes and could throw open windows to let the air play through. Tomorrow will peak out at 98 degrees. My basic intention is to deny weather the ability to sour my mood. I mostly succeed at that.

    Sometimes weather gets oppressive enough to challenge me. What I dislike is too much of the same thing: too many successive days of bitter cold, too many days of stultifying heat, too many days in a row of rain or too many days between refreshing rain.

    When I send God my request for weather, it is always the same: surprise me!

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  11. I have always liked the phrase “good sleeping weather”, meaning it is cool enough to leave the windows open at night. I don’t do well in high humidity, and husband just wilts. We had extremely high temps here last week, but the humidity was so low that when the obligatory cold front swept through on Sunday morning there were no storms or even the hint of a shower. Husband smoked a 13 lb brisket on Saturday, and it seemed apropriate, somehow, that it was hotter than blazes outside. He kept hydrated with beer and water and iced tea. It required about 10 hours of attention to the grill, and even then he ended up finishing it in the oven most of yesterday.

    We are almost ready for our cooking extravaganza next weekend for the Lutherans. (A tasket, a tisket, we smoked a big brisket. Lutherans are coming to town!) The weather in the ND Badlands should be warm but not too warm in the daytime and cool at night. Husband is making cole slaw and potato salad this week, and I have pecan bars and some peach crisps to make. Daughter is visting as well, and has requested some favorite comfort food which we will somehow cook for her.

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  12. Different kinds of weather don’t bother my moods too much. But hot, humid weather is totally draining for me — I cannot handle it. I love the air conditioned indoors all summer; although I seem to have a lingering raw throat for the last few weeks. Don’t know what that’s about.

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  13. Whatever the weather, I think that the Baboons have taken shelter and aren’t communicating much today. We have cool and cloudy today. The farmers are harvesting like mad (well, the custom combiners are harvesting like mad)

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    1. Got my oats combined two weeks ago. Went 103 bu/ acre which is pretty amazing to me. The best oats yield I’ve ever gotten.
      The guys at the seed house said they were getting 130 – 150 bu / acre.
      I don’t know whether to set that as my new goal or just imagine the one that got away.

      And straw went well too. I put up 1200 small square bales and had 19 round bales made on top of that. Whew!

      Hope all the custom combine crews have good luck and be SAFE doing it.

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  14. Oh, definitely. I do like a variety, though. I like warm, sunny days – not hot, warm. I like cloudy fall days when the leaves seem to glow. But bright, blue autumn skies with all the colors of the trees against that blue, blue sky are pretty nice, too. I like fog by the lake. I like sunny days with blue skies and blue lake with enough of a wind that there are whitecaps. I like snowy days and I like waking up to a cold, crisp, sunny winter morning after a snowfall when the snow glitters.

    Hot and humid takes it out of me, though. Can’t handle it. And too long a period of any extreme – rain, snow, cold, even sun – gets wearying. If it’s been a long time without rain, a rainy day can boost my mood. But if there has been weeks of rain, a sunny day makes me smile. Same in the winter – if we have weeks of below zero weather, I’m glad to get a day or two of “warm” weather.

    Lovely post and lovely pictures, Clyde. Thank you.

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    1. My daughter just dented her fender ( not too badly) today by backing into an invisible moving van in her parking lot. I told her she is paying for that repair. She agreed.

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  16. I agree those of you who really appreciated the change of seasons. Each one seems to bring with it a subtle change and shift of behaviors and subsequent moods. I visited my older son in California many years ago. By the third day of utterly perfect weather, I pulled the covers over my head and exclaimed, “Another sunny day?”. The whole state had the feel of a Hollywood staged scene. It was just too much for me.

    Although summer is supposed to be heavenly here – and, it is in terms of weather – I’m more comfortable in the winter because that’s the time we’re supposed to hunker down into survival behavior. When it’s gorgeous outside, I feel obligated to be out there enjoying it. If I had enough company to enjoy this pristine plot of land, I’d probably really enjoy it a lot. In the meantime, give me winter since that’s a solid excuse for staying huddled in my little cottage.

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  17. Having lived my entire life in MN, I do appreciate the change of seasons. I used to love the hot, humid days of summer but now they just make me wilt unless I am in water. Give me a perfect golf day anytime – warm (not hot) temps, low humidity, a few clouds, and a gentle breeze. I agree with reneeinnd about “good sleeping weather” – so nice to have the windows open then. I used to enjoy winter a lot more as a kid – that changed in a hurry when I had to start driving in it. Now it’s not the cold or snow that bother me so much – it’s the little aggravations such as having to put so many layers of clothing on before going out, trying to do anything with gloves or mittens on ( I have very small hands – my fingers never reach the end of the glove or mitt), dragging all those little rocks into the house on the soles of my boots, the salt/sand combo that is glued to my car for months, never having clean car windows. The weather affects my mood mostly when I am traveling, though I know I have no control over it.

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    1. If you don’t have a garage for your car, winter in Minnesota is a real pain. And, even if you do, driving when the streets have turned into a skating rink is a royal pain. That’s not to mention trying to walk on sidewalks that have not been shoveled. Winter in Minnesota is not for that faint of heart. That’s my opinion, and I’m sticking to it!

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  19. Evening.
    Nice pictures Clyde. Good story to go with.
    I really do appreciate all the seasons.
    My wife has real issues with winter and the extreme darkness.
    She’s already started to comment on the shorter days and that it’s dark when she’s getting ready for work in the morning.
    She’s got one of those lights and does light therapy in the winter and that helps. But she is really affected.

    I couldn’t log in from work today; just couldn’t get the page to load. Not sure what was up with that. Thought maybe the whole site was down.

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  20. one of those days
    checked in late.
    i roll with the weather but…
    i took wife early in our relationship up to the north shore and arrived in your campsite about 11 after leaving late. we came u with a campsite and i ma good at erecting a tent in the dark but…
    3 or 4 inches of rain caused the river through the sleeping bags and duffle bags and while waiting for the laundry mat in town to dry the sleeping bags we heard it was 100 in the cities and only going to hit 62 in the cloudy rainy north. we left and it was 100 in cloquet so we camped in a local park in the heat and did not dar complain about how uncomfortably hot it was 60 minutes south of where we started

    i tend to do my rule of 10 for weather
    10 hot ones 10 cold ones 10 perfect and 10 rainy snowy windy and other worldlyy ones. any day fits into a rule of 10 day especially a normal boring spring sumeer fall or winter day. i like the season to be correct snow in the winter robust 70 ish in the spring crisp fall like color laden days with indain summer. if its not there wait a minute. we ar ein the great changer for weather. if i dont get what i want this year next year will be better. or the next or the next,

    nice photos clyde. the fog is womblike and makes for cozy hanging.

    what i dislike about weather is how people dont get out into it these days. kids sit in air conditioning and if its cold or hot or rainy we stay out of it. i love huge weather i love subtle weather . im easy especially as i sit in my air conditioned bedroom after driving home in my airconditioned car from my closed office warehouse enviorment where summer and winter are shut out to avoid hot and cold.

    i love the idea of geothermal heat/cool idea where the 40/50/60 degree temps undergrounf can heat cool us to a moderate level with no more than a fan blowing it into the house.

    we need a couple more blogs this week and all of next to make it to the fair. thanks to all the baboons for making it through the summer. thanks dale for loading up the posts.
    we can do this.

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