THE WEATHER

I have a daughter who moved to Mesa a while back and she lets me know how warm it is down there and especially whenever its unseasonably cold up here. I, in turn let her know what summer is like in Crosslake, when it’s one hundred and ten or better down there. We get about two months of real cold weather and they get about four months of real hot weather so I get the better of that little good natured game-- I think. We both do what is obvious when it is to cold or hot outside and we stay inside, where we can regulate the temperature. She is homebound more than me. We get some summer storms and they get sand storms. We have mosquitoes and they have bugs that make mosquitoes look like dust bunnies. She has a pool to cool down in and I have four hundred acres of water where I can do the same. Plus mine has a dock and fish in it and no chlorine. The dentist tells me that chlorine is good but I have been checking and I haven’t found any fish with cavities yet.

Now if you have enough time and money to live in both places-- opposite the weather extremes-- then that’s a good thing, right. Otherwise you learn to cope. There are reasons people settled in Minnesota –besides the wagon breaking down---and I am sure there are reasons people settled in Arizona too, but you would have to ask them about that and I’m sure it had nothing to do with the weather. When you meet someone in Minnesota, in the winter, stranger or not, the first words out of your mouth are usually “Cold enough for you.” It’s what’s called an icebreaker-- no pun intended. After that you find out, he or she went to school with your sister and you both know the mayor of Merrifield. By the way I was corrected the other day and it is Merr- a- field and not Merryfield. There is no merry in Merrifield and you can take that anyway you want to.

My daughter says nothing piles up in her driveway that needs to be shoveled. True but skiing in sand is a drag. Plus I have a four-wheeler with a blade on it and when it snows, I go play. Then I play in three other driveways that pay me to play in their snow. Try making a snow angel in the desert. You get all dirty and you might have ants in your pants when you get done or worse, a scorpion in your scrotum. Disregarding the St Patrick’s Day parade of 2012, I have never been in a traffic jam in Crosslake. Driving in Phoenix is nothing short of a demolition derby but I have to give them this one. It is warm while you wait for the tow truck and the cops to show up.

Last week my son-in law sent me a clipping showing that they were having outdoor movies in the park in Mesa and he remarked “that would never happen in Minnesota in the winter.” Then I pick up the Northland press and there it was in the Winter Festival agenda. Outdoor movies. That got clipped and sent back to him the same day. Yaw- sure- you- betcha it did. I giggled all the way to the post office. Am I going to the outdoor movies? Only if I can get my snowmobile fixed so I can sit on it.

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Now it’s really all relative isn’t it? So far in this country you can live wherever you want to and everybody has to be somewhere don’t they? What ever rocks your boat or turns your crank and makes you a happy, then that’s what’s important isn’t it