Enough Already!

I know I won’t get any sympathy from my friends and relatives who live up north, but here it is – enough with the cold, already! I’m freezing my butt off!

We went from daytime temperatures in the mid-to-upper 80s, with nights in the upper 60s, down to daytime temps in the low 50s, and overnight lows in the upper 30s in 24 hours. That’s just too darned cold!

Yeah, I know you live in Michigan, or Ohio, or Antarctica where it gets really cold and you think I’m being a sniveling little sissy. You’re right, I am! I moved to Florida because I didn’t want to be cold.

And yes, compared to where you are and what you have coming in the months ahead this isn’t cold at all. I lived in northern Ohio when I was in high school and walked a mile to school no matter what the weather was because we didn’t have school buses. I spent a couple of years stationed at the Military Academy at West Point, New York, where the frigid wind whipping down the Hudson Valley was enough to give you frostbite if you weren’t careful. I even participated in war games held in Iceland while I was in the Army, and my superiors didn’t seem to agree with my opinion that if any of our enemies ever wanted to invade that frigid place, they were welcome to it.

I also spent a winter living in Minnesota. All winter long I said that if it ever warmed up enough for my car to start, I would leave. It did, and I did. If you read my book Big Lake Snowdaze, you may remember the Polar Bear Plunge scene. My brothers-in-law at the time convinced me I should take part in that tradition while I lived in Minnesota. And like a fool, I said okay. However, unlike Sheriff Weber and the characters in my book who dove into the icy water, I made it about knee-deep and shrieked in pain. I never felt anything that terrible. Did you know that water can be so cold that it feels like it’s burning you? I was back inside the van with the engine running and the heater blowing, cussing and pulling clothes on faster than you would think a fat little guy like me could move.

So yeah, I get it. Compared to a lot of places, this is nothing. But it’s my blog and I’ll snivel if I want to. Why does that sound familiar? Wasn’t there an old song about crying at a party back in the day?

The good news is, the weatherman says we will start warming up today, reaching the mid-70s, and we will be in the middle 80s over the weekend. How about if we get somewhere around 80° and just stay there year ‘round? Not too hot and not too cold. Yeah, I could handle that.

Changing the subject, in answer to all the people who commented on Facebook or sent me messages after reading yesterday’s blog Terry To The Rescue, no, you can’t have her. And yes, though she does have two sisters, you can’t have either one of them, either.

And in closing, here’s a picture of a sign someone sent me that they saw on Election Day. No clothing allowed in the polling place? I didn’t know you could vote at your local nudist camp, did you?

Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing. This week’s prize is a pair of e-books, the first two novellas in my friend Mona Ingram’s Dear Santa Christmas romance series. Their titles are The Bride and The Party. One lucky winner gets both books. To enter, all you have to do is click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening.

Thought For The Day – Women always worry about the things that men forget. Men always worry about the things women remember.