Today's high - fifty-some degrees. Last week . . . blanketed in snow and cold.
When I was a kid, it seemed like Winter always brought snow that stayed. We got a few inches, and it built up and evaporated away, but there was almost always a layer on the ground. The roads were never cleared, either; not completely. These days, even the side streets are free from ice and snow. I seem to remember our street being snowed-over quite a bit. We even used to play hockey (albeit in gym shoes, not skates) out on the street.
Back in '71 ot '72 I got a job at the A&P grocery store. I used to ride my bike about a mile to get to work each day - all of the trip on side streets. Most of them were straight, but one had a nice curve to it. During the Winter I'd ride as fast as i could, then try to get the back tire to skid sideways as I made the turn - kinda like motorcycles do when they're racing on ice. I did learn a real important lesson one summer day, too: never try to act like a racing motorcycle on gravel. The bike tends to slip out from under you, spills you to the ground, rips a hole in your jeans and rips up the skin underneath.
The Winters in the late 70's were horrible in Chicago. One year it was cold as could be - below freezing temps day after day. It got so cold that my radiator froze; then I did, too, driving several miles trying to thaw it out. Had to put a trouble light on the engine block in the garage overnight to get it working again.
Another year we got 92 inches of snow (officially, at O'Hare airport). Talk about so much snow we didn't have anywhere to put it! The end of our driveway was piled at least six feet high. You couldn't see to back out . . . just move out slowly and hope the other guy was kind enough to either let you know he was there or stop for you.
Fifteen years ago or so we had a Winter where the temperature dropped below freezing and stayed there for three months. Colder'n'hell. When it broke the freezing mark that first day it was like a party had started. We'd been so cold for so long that Spring temperatures felt like summer.
'Course, we've had really, really hot summers, too. I saw a thermometer on the near north side reading 111 degrees during our hottest summer. I think, officially, it got to 104, but having been out in it, I think that 111 was right on. My wife, kids and I went to Navy Pier, thinking we were going to get to cool off with a little lake breeze, but there was none to be had. Even the air-conditioned parts of the building didn't seem cool to us, that day.
In any case, recent Winters have proven to be on the milder side - global warming, I guess - but that's not all bad. Sure makes the living easier, and the gas bills smaller. For old times' sake, though, why can't we string Fall out to just past Thanksgiving weekend, get a little snow, stay around the freezing mark until the beginning of March, having received just enough snow to keep the ground blanketed, then go back on to Spring?
Anybody in good enough with the Lord to get that done?
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