Boy, it's been awhile since I sat down for a bit of blogging. Not quite sure WTF is going on in my life. It has become apparent Summer is at an end...totally missed it. Less than a month before I step into a year closer to 60, and it happened so fast.
Usually I keep track of the passage of time. It is generally marked by when my next days off are, as those are the bright lights of my life (how very sad is that?), but, perhaps it is because I have been booking off the same days as my beloved, and working almost 12 days in a row, before taking 4 or 5 off, missed a month, and blew a whole season, now I am kicking myself.
When you live where I do, summer is always fleeting. We do not experience the 2 most pleasant seasons at all, spring and fall, just the extreme two. For some stupid reason, the only season that lasts forever is winter. That nasty time lasts about 8 frigging months. No, not exaggerating, it goes on beyond human endurance.
So, last week, incredible heat wave, I could barely move, or sleep. Life was just one huge ball of moisture, because of the humidity. To mow the lawn, a person would be smart to head out about 4 AM, but...then you would deal with a heavy dew...otherwise, you would have to place a beer at the end of each mowed row, just to replace fluids. Great plan, but the rows get increasingly crooked as one goes along.
Yesterday I gaze about, the leaves are falling! Patches of yellow are seen everywhere in the bush. Then the horrid sound that brings a chill to my heart...I heard the Geese down along the river. That sound is not the same as the music their voices bring to my world in the "spring" (beginning of summer). This noise is like nails on a chalkboard. It is the ring of doom, the herald of evil. Those wonderful bodies of feather are warning me that they are getting the H-ll out of town, winter is on it's way!!
Now, growing up, I would often travel, and when someone I met would ask where I lived, I would simply say the name of the town, and then explain it was just a short drive down the road from Alaska. Hey, it was, just 2 miles (give or take). Oh, then they would be off..."do you live in an igloo?" I would always want to slap them silly with that question, but....use the State of Alaska in an explanation and instantly Nanook of the North is all they see. Not so... my hometown did not get cold! We got enormous amounts of snow, enormous amounts of rain, and a blip of below freezing. The blip was just enough to put a good layer of "crust" on the enormous amount of snow, allowing a person to often walk up to the second story windows in their home, or climb onto their roof to sled off. Yes, we would bundle up, but mostly because the snow was wet and cold, not because the air was so frigid we couldn't breath. We could in fact build snow homes, but they would be built down into the 10 feet of snow, with steps and tunnels.
However....although I no longer live just down the road from Alaska, I do live in the frigging Far North. I live in an area that winter is a killer. If one makes a mistake, they are screwed. No forgiveness in this part of the world. I fear frostbite walking 2 blocks, and ...it could happen if I am not prepared. Breathing becomes painful, when the thermometer hits -35 (that is celsius) blowing snow feels like needles when it hits bare skin. The body revolts, hair becomes a ball of static, skin splits, and goes numb. Ears get cold, and then when you enter a room, become so damn hot, you think flames are coming out of them! A quick trip to the store takes planing. First, against all the environmental hoohah, you must dash outside and start your vehicle. Give yourself at least 15 minutes to let it warm up beyond molasses oil consistency, and use that time to dress properly, because entering and exiting the vehicle and building take a lifetime when it is this cold (or so it seems). Oh cripes, I just don't want to do this again!! My job demands I spend far too much time going in and out doors, I just don't think I can manage yet another mind numbing 8 months of winter!
I think humans are (hey, not just me, it is scientifically proven) genetically programed for specific locations. I was born and raised on the North Coast. I grew up with rain, sunshine, and snow. My skin needs above normal precipitation (now I have tons of wrinkles because I live here)! My comfort level requires a minimum of 5 feet of heavy wet snow, to insulate my surroundings in the midst of winter. I need 4 distinct seasons, none extreme. I need to be able to moan about the incredible amount of snow shoveling required (which if you chose, you can hire a loader to do). I need to be able to watch winter end, slowly, with the shrinking snowbanks outside my window, and the noise of the waterfalls growing with the spring melt. I need to hear the roar of snow slides down the mountain, as spring burrows under the snow pack. I need to watch the green start slowly on the trees, or, watch the leaves flutter yellow to the ground, until the branches are bare. Spring is a time of rebirth, fall is a time to prepare, to live in harmony, these seasons are necessary.
I have spent a decade without the joy of rebirth, or the opportunity to prepare. In my world, the leaves do not even get a chance to flutter yellow to the ground. One day they are nice and green, and the next, they are covered in snow, still attached to the blasted tree! There is no warning to take a couple of days to clear summer off your yard, it is summer on Monday, on Tuesday, you dig out the long johns! Sorry folks, but this is unnatural! My DNA cannot support this! You can go on about Global warming all you want, I have read diaries written a 100 years ago by folks who pioneered in this area, same sh*t, summer one day, winter the next!! They only way a person can survive these parts is to be genetically programmed, and...I'm not!!
My fingers are already crossed, I am trying to gear myself up, the sun is shining outside, the heat is warming through the panes of glass, but the Geese have honked, and I suppose I had best get outside and get ready for the 8 months of the second season ahead!
No comments:
Post a Comment