It’s Official — Coldest February EVER!

We may not have quite the snowfall total of other areas out there (specifically, my oldest son living just a bit west of Boston), but we’ve set the average low temperature record for the month of February here. The coldest February EVER, according to meteorologist Bill Steffen’s Blog at WOOD-TV8 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Our average daily high temperature was an astounding 13.3°…a full degree lower than the last record set 37 years ago!

I knew I was sick of winter for a good reason. This old body, continually dressed in sweatshirt over t-shirt inside the 68° house, is still chilly all the time. And being a cigarette smoker (silly me, I know) those trips to the garage “smoking lounge” necessitated adding another two layers of thick covering so I could tolerate sitting close to the parabolic heater and sucking down that luscious, blue, nicotine-filled cloud.

Helloo, are you an addict, just plain stupid or both?

Well, just a touch of both, but after 50 or so years at it, I’m also an expert. Coming from a long line of tobacco users dating back, at least, to my great-grandparents in the late 1800s, I suppose one could say, “I come by it honestly”. Not much of an excuse, I understand, but let us enjoy our vice in peace, OK?

Back to the cold though, thankfully, we were able to escape this deep-freeze for a short time in mid-January, spending a wonderfully WARM week in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Unfortunately, we had to return to the cold, the snow and the question of…will spring ever arrive???

As I recall, it was just four weeks ago that the famous rodent, Punxsutawney Phil, declared we were in for six more weeks of winter. So, let’s see, in only two short weeks spring will be here in all it’s glory. You’d better be right, Phil, or I have a giant rat trap to place at the entrance to your burrow!