Cold, Cold, Go Away

Everyone talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it.  — Mark Twain

When I was a kid, I loved the change in seasons. Oddly, summer was never my favorite, even though it meant no school. There’s no place better than spring in Oklahoma except fall in Oklahoma. Summer was good, and winter wasn’t too shabby. My sisters and I had a great big metal Coca Cola sign that we used as a sled. If we got enough speed going down the big hill, we could slide up a few feet of our road, then down the little hill right into our yard.

If you don’t like the weather, just wait a few minutes. It’ll change. — Attributed to many people, but I’m going with state favorite, Will Rogers

One summer my friend Cathy, Louisiana born and bred, and I were in a small town high in the Rocky Mountains, talking weather with the owner of the diner where we were eating. “So what do you do in the winter?” one of us asked.

The woman looked puzzled. “The same thing we do the rest of the year — go to work, to church, to school, visit friends and family, go shopping.”

“But how do you get out of your house with the heavy snows you get?”

“Snow plows, of course. Everyone’s got ‘em.” Then she gave us a narrow-eyed look. “You two aren’t from around here, are you?”

I had never seen a snow plow except on TV. I didn’t know what a snow shovel was the first time I came across them at Walmart.

A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water. — Carl Reiner

As I’ve gotten older, I still love spring and fall (except for the dratted allergies), but I’ve also learned to love the summer heat and I’ve come to dread winter. A white Christmas? No, thank you. A snowfall or two? Not even the big beautiful fat flakes that we had last Friday. Ice, sleet, blizzard? Only if I can advance warning and leave the state.

Maybe I could go stay with Carl Reiner. I’m sure he’d understand.

“Tut, Tut, looks like rain”
―    A.A. Milne

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