The high temp tomorrow for my area will be 75 freaking degrees.

[Bouncy Ball]

So what's it like having more than two seasons?

Me, I've got only two and they don't go by those fancy "summer, winter, etc" names. They are called "HOT" and "not so hot."

HOT can last from March through November, though obviously the months from May to October are the hottest of the hot. We sometimes hit triple digits as early as May. That's when you know you are in for a bad one.

Not so hot from maybe December (Nov if we're lucky) through maybe March. Maybe just February. And the not so hot can disappear at any time, only to reappear later (look at the title line of this post).

I don't understand what it means to have to shovel snow. I've never knocked icicles off my house for fear of them impaling someone. I didn't even know people put chains on their tires until I was 25 years old. And I'm still not sure I understand how it's done. If the temperature dips into the 20s, I think I am going to die.

There's no such thing as the body of a car rusting out down here, but we do get our paint jobs oxidized (baked off) over time. I have darkly tinted windows on my car, and I supplement that with suction-cupped dark visors, as well. So my daughter won't die in the back.

The one and only time I ever visited the north was to meet my grandmother in law, who lived in Brick (Township), New Jersey. It was December. She didn't think it was cold enough to run the heat and there was a foot of snow on the ground. I could hardly carry on any conversation because my teeth were clacking together so hard. In the middle of the night, she apparently decided the house was "too stuffy" and went around opening up the windows a few inches. (She's from Germany, if that makes any difference to the story.) When I woke up in the morning and saw the window lifted up and SNOW ON THE SILL INSIDE THE ROOM, I felt so cold, I ACTUALLY started to cry.

My husband wanted to go out and throw snowballs. Stupid Texas girl that I was, I didn't even think to bring gloves, so I wore socks on my hands and tried to be a good sport. After ten minutes, I was whimpering. My fingers were blue in the sopping wet socks and I was begging to go inside the frigid house.

When I noticed I could see my breath INSIDE, I told my new husband it might be time to leave.

[Bouncy Ball]

1. Did I brag too much about not having to deal with the cold?

OK, then, here are stories from a different angle:

As a kid, I suffered a third degree burn on my thigh from the metal seat belt fastener in my mother's car. THIRD DEGREE. For a while, you could still see "GM" on my leg.

Back in the day, a lot of parents simply locked the kids outdoors so as to save the a/c from kids running in and out. So we learned to deal with heat exhaustion. One time a kid was seriously passed out. He had stopped sweating and his skin was clammy. We were really freaked out. Our mom wouldn't answer the door (found out later she was under the hair dryer--those big ones they used to sit under while wearing rollers). His house was a couple of blocks away. The garden hose was around back. So my brother grabbed a Bell jar sitting nearby, ran behind the bushes, peed into it, then brought it back and splashed it on this kid's face. He came to a bit and we slapped him up some more to get him to "come back alive" as my brother put it.

Gross, huh?

My brother learned young that if you are going to drink from a water hose that has been sitting in the sun, you let the water run a bit first so as not to scald your mouth.

Fun stuff, that.

[cags]

2. Know just how you feel, I'm from CA moved to TX last year.

My husbands family is from Minnesota, I've visited but I would never want to live there. I have no meat on my bones as it is, I would be a popsicle. We got snow here for about 3 days and thats all I need.

[Bouncy Ball]

3. Did you get some of that wild, weird pre-Christmas snow

this past year? THAT was freaky, wasn't it??? We never get snow that early. Well, most years we don't get any at all, but NEVER before Christmas.

[cags]

5. Yeah, Enough to play with, then it went away, Thank God

[Bouncy Ball]

9. Same here.

I took pictures, we rolled up really tiny snowballs and made a foot tall snowman, then went inside and had warm gluhwein.

[ProfessorGAC]

4. Ah, Another Showoff About The Lack of Winter

Just kidding, Bouncy!

I give a hard time to GOPIsEvil about this too! He's from down your way and when he complains about the heat i tell him to keep it to himself, or he has to come up to Chicago in January. Live here a few years and you wouldn't want to hear anyone complaining about a lack of cold, either.

Actually, though your story is fairly typical of people i've known from the south. WHen you live here your whole life, the body acclimates incredibly quickly. In November, if it dips below 30, it seems really cold. By January, if the temperature HITS 30, i feel like it's warm enough to go swimming. (Not really, but by then i'm used to the cold.) It's really kind of amazing we adapt as fast as we do.

Last bit: My wife and i lived in a very old home (Pre-Victorian). Our first winter, we had 10 days of well below zero temps. I didn't know that i had to cover the old windows in plastic, didn't know there was no damper in the fire place flue, etc. We had people over after a gig. 40 people came over. 2 stayed more than 45 minutes. It was so cold in there that the next morning in the unheated entry way, a beer had frozen. Ooop! So, i can relate to seeing one's own breath, indoors.
The Professor

[Bouncy Ball]

8. Oh my God.

I got cold just reading that story. I cannot even imagine a liquid freezing inside when it is not in the FREEZER.

You coulda hung meat in that house! LOL!

[Droopy]

6. It got down to 1 degree here last night

But a warm front is moving through today and it's actually up to a balmy 31. It's normal for us to go through the month of January without ever seeing temperatures above freezing. Although we have this year, but only for a couple of days. I'll take heat all year over cold 1/3 of the year any time. But there are a lot of people here who like winter. I used to know a guy who would ride his motor cycle in to work in the middle of the winter.

[Bouncy Ball]

7. Ok, see, I don't think I've ever even BEEN in 1 degree temps.

I think I have experienced that low with wind chill (I think) but not actual temp.

BRRRRRRR!!!!!!!

[LeftyMom]

10. We only have two seasons here, too

We have "Hot as hell, but drier" which lasts aproximately April-October
and "Will it ever stop raining" which covers the rest. I think it's cold right now, it's about 50, but I've been informed by midwest escapees that if I refer to any temperature above freezing as cold they will break my kneecaps.

[Bouncy Ball]

15. 50 IS cold!!!

It's about 58 or so here. Not too bad. Going to be downright warm tomorrow.

I kinda hate that, though. It's freaking JANUARY. It's SUPPOSED to be cold, not 75 fucking degrees. Sheesh.

It's no wonder we stay sick around here. Two days after that, it'll drop to freezing, then it'll rain, then it'll climb up to 80 degrees. Our weather has mental health issues.

[Maine-ah]

11. thanks

you bastard for rubbing it in :evilgrin:

[Bouncy Ball]

14. Come on down to Texas in July and August!

We'll welcome you with our open, sweaty arms! You'll see lots of movies in dark, cool, air-conditioned movie theaters, then die walking to the car in the parking lot, which has gone all soft from the heat.

LOL!

When my daughter was a baby, the pediatrician's nurse had just moved down here from Connecticut or Maine or one of those New England states, and when I would bring my daughter in, she'd exclaim "She must have a FEVER!" and I'd say "No it's just July." She was all red and sweaty just from going from the house to the car, then the car to the doctor's office.

[nickgutierrez]

12. I get the worst of both of it.

Winters in Chicago, summers in Florida.

Yeah. Fun.

[Bouncy Ball]

13. Ay-yi-yi!!!

That truly sucks!!!

[patdem]

18. You have to be the MOST confused person on EARTH..you are supposed

to WINTER in Florida and SUMMER in the North? Are you CRAZY MON? :crazy:

[nickgutierrez]

20. Am I crazy? Yes.

And I think this may be the reason why.

:)

[giant_robot]

16. Some say we only have two seasons in Buffalo...

...winter and construction.

[Fenris]

17. Texans only have two seasons.

Summer and the two weeks that it isn't summer.:D

[Bouncy Ball]

19. You got it!

Especially where you are. Hey I drove through there this weekend. Going to San Antonio and back. Nice drive but looooong.

[Fenris]

21. Yes, it's lovely this time of year.

I love the brownery (the opposite of greenery). The hills look pleasant with the rolling yellow grasses on them.:)

[Bouncy Ball]

22. LMAO

You got that right. And I-35 is soooo damn pretty, too. All the potholes and construction, I just love it!!!

[Fenris]

23. Yep. The ROAD OF DEATH just gets prettier every year.

Especially up in Austin around Ben White Boulevard. So ripped open and filthy!:D

[Left Is Write]

24. Some people will tell you there are only two seasons in Minnesota.

Winter and road construction.

Here where I live now, we have two seasons: Too sunny and too cloudy.

[Bouncy Ball]

25. Too sunny, LOL

You are on a roll today.

[Left Is Write]

26. You think?

No, seriously. I live in the desert (it's the high desert, but desert nevertheless). The summers can be brutal with that relentless sun.