Bring on the wimpy weather ~ December 18, 1997

David Heiller

The mild weather we are having this fall has brought some interesting reactions from people.

Normally we would be calling this season “winter,” even though it doesn’t officially start for three days. But I’m still calling it fall, because it feels like fall.

We had 40 degrees last Sunday, December 13 It was a beautiful October day.

The weather is topsy-turvy, thanks to El Niño ( International Falls had a record 44 degrees ABOVE zero on Sunday. yet Guadalajara, Mexico, had 11 inches of snow and minus 11 degree temperatures.

I asked a friend that day how he was liking the weather. He answered something like this: “It’s great, but when winter hits, look out. We’re going to pay for this. Wait till the other shoe drops.”

A more typical Christmas evening at our house.
 Noah and Collin 1996.

My wife, Cindy, stands to the left of that conservative stance. She wants some snow. She wants her brother and sister-in-law to be able to go skiing when they come up for Christmas from balmy southern Wisconsin.

This is Minnesota, by cracky! One thing we can brag about is our cold and snow.

Not this year, and that’s fine with me.

A friend at church a couple weeks ago said that the warm weather was a gift, that winter would go by a lot faster, because winter hadn’t begun when it normally did. “Our winter is going to be a lot shorter,” he said.

He had a grateful look on his face. He is no wimp about winter. Quite the contrary. He fishes and skis and even goes camping in minus 23 degrees. I went camping with him on a trip that chilly last year and nearly froze to death.

After the last two years, he wasn’t about to look a gift El Niño in the mouth. He summed up my feelings exactly.

I like to ski and snowshoe. I know snowmobilers are itching to get out and do their thing. I know farmers need snow cover to protect alfalfa. Businesses are complaining. Yes, some septic systems need a blanket of insulation.

But let’s be selfish just this once. Let’s pretend we live in Missouri. Let’s work outside with just a flannel shirt on in the middle of December. I did that on Sunday and got too hot!

Normally by this time of year, our woodpile has a sizable dent in it. This year, it almost looks untouched. It’s a good sight to see in the middle of December.

Brown Christmas? Bring it on!

Now that I’ve written that, you can bet it is going to snow and get as cold as a coal miner’s keester.

How warm is it? It’s so warm that Tom Brabec is thinking of having a sale on softball bats instead of cross country skis. Pat Mee at Askov Deep Rock is delivering ice cream instead of oil. Askov firemen are making a swimming pool instead of a skating rink.

The warm weather has one more positive effect. It makes you forget when your favorite football team loses on the last play of the game like the Vikings did on Sunday.

You can blame this goofy weather on El Niño but you can’t blame the collapse of Minnesota Vikings’ on it, because they collapse every year at this time. Blizzard or heat wave, it doesn’t matter to the Vikings.

I felt so depressed after the Vikings game:

So did Cindy and our son, Noah. Then we went outside and sawed some wood and stacked it in the warm sun. Snow dripped off the buildings. It felt good. It helped us forgive the Viking’s.

Then I went out to check on my bees. They came swarming out to chase me away. That’s never happened on December 14 before. I’ll take it as a good sign.