As I sit here the sun is out, flakes of snow are falling and it is 17 degrees. I read an article that brings hope; only 22 days till spring! I don’t think it is a stretch to say this has been a long winter for everyone with several large weather events.
Most of myWausaNews.com has been full of posts dealing with re-scheduling events, school postponements and now the need to extend school hours in order to meet all the state requirements.
I was watching the weatherman and the normal temperature for this time of year is in the 40s but the last few years have not proven so. From 2009 to 2007 the temp on this day has been in the 20s, but in 2006 it got all the way up to 51 degrees.
I can only scoop snow so many more times, not because I physically cannot do it but I think my mental state is cracking! I can only dig so many holes in the snow drifts around my house!
So, this is an open letter to Mother Nature; we have enough snow. As much as we have enjoyed it (not), we are ready for leaves on trees, spring flowers and some WARM temperatures. I appreciate your willingness to listen and know you will take this under immediate consideration. PS could you melt the snow slowly as I don’t want water in my basement… Thanks
AMEN!
Josh, your sentiments have been acknowledged by anyone that has had to move it, truck it, walk in it or drive on it. However, from the looks of your tunnel construction, the kids are having an absolute blast jumping in/out of their underground fort. They will be dually saddened next year when el’nino brings us record heat and the shovels are still in storage!
Having had the opportunity to travel most of the north/southwest parts of this country, I can tell you that they are wondering ‘where’s the snow’? They have been under a drought for the past decade and it looks like there’s little help this season. I did haul back from Portland, OR., 6 K lbs. of roses for Wal mart shoppers in Cheyenne. Now in east central Colorado, there’s not enough snow here to make a snowball.
I have warned Lois for the past month now that the good folks of Wausa should be building an Ark, because when the weather breaks, and goes Caribbean, Josh’s plea for avoiding flooded basements, may just be lost thought with Mother Nature!
Josh, once again I need to comment on your winter-blues, or bad case of cabin fever. I’m sure you have already pursued these during your computer surfing experiences, but there are some really great programs on podcast that enlighten your day and carry you through our less than optimistic values of this 2010-winter.
One of the more interesting programs on podcast is Garrison Keiller’s Prairie Home Companion and his other daily podcast with The Writer’s Almanac. The address you can cut and paste in the URL/address line is listed below and centers around birthdays of famous folks, and of course, his brilliant reading of selected poetry, and this is good: http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/podcast/feed.php
You can cut/paste this into your URL as well to receive podcasts about his Prairie Home Companion radio show and of course, his famous stories from “Lake Wobegon, where all the men are good looking, all the women are strong, and all the children are above average!” It has a lengthy address line, but you can cut it off after companion news.
http://americanpublicmedia.publicradio.org/podcasts/xml/prairie_home_companion/news_from_lake_wobegon.xml
I’m sure you and so many or your readers have frequented {SimpleTruths.com}, another great way to feel motivated by clicking on their inspirational videos highlighting a down-syndrome child’s ability to be the best at his job, the power of a single degree of temperature, to Vince Lombardi-isms.
Maybe this isn’t the place to promote these programs, but being held without ransom by old man winter (Mother Nature too), these programs can enlighten your day and lead to other exciting programs on the net. I use “(Apple) iTunes” to download my podcasts, etc., and maybe you have ideas where folks can do this even simpler (as I’ve heard before, ‘This isn’t Rocket Science’).
Your letter or prayer to Mother Nature has stirred my resources to offer some help here. If folks don’t have a computer, or were trying to rationalize why they need one, this would be one positive post I would suggest. Before I run out of breath, I would like to suggest for folks to start listening (and many currently do) to NPR radio broadcasts. Other than typical news events, they have tremendous stories with some famous and infamous people from ‘behind the scenes’ that you would be hard pressed to find on your own. Some great one-on-one interviews of human interest are terrifically inspiring. You could go online to catch their area broadcast radio connections (usually in the 8 and 9 hundreds on your dial).
JOSH>>>>>>>if this doesn’t fit the needs of reader feedback, just trash it, and i could put into a roostertales shortly….? mert