Things I Never Learned as a Child

My husband has always said that I grew up in an ivory tower. He is wrong. I evidently grew up in Camelot.

Let’s put aside the family dynamics (ooh, I'm regressing, that's standard issue Marin County psychobabble right there) - I am speaking here about weather.

I grew up in northern California - not the far northern part, where it snows, but the just over the bridge from San Francisco part.

Don’t get me wrong. We, as kids, whined about the weather then the same way kids do now. My mother used to sign us up for swimming lessons at eight o’clock in the morning every summer of my life. We complained so much about having to go swimming when it was 60 something degrees and that she was trying to kill us.

It did rain where I lived but it JUST rained. There were no torrential downpours. There was no thunder. There was no lightning. There were very few STORMS. It just rained. Rain fell.

There was fog. There was a lot of fog but it was soft and moist and enveloping. It crept in like a pet who has been out and about and is trying to be unnoticed until it is already there. I just reread that sentence and my apologies to Carl Sandberg.

From http://www.usacitiesonline.com/, I copied this:
Climate:
The county generally has a temperate, marine climate during the entire year. The winters are not cold, but with rain falling often. The summers tend to be warm and dry with fog along the coastal areas, particularly near the Golden Gate Bridge area. If traveling to this area, you will probably need a light coat or jacket in the evenings during the entire year.
Average Low: 46.0 (Kentfield)

Average High: 70.9 (Kentfield)

Average Temperature: 58.5 (Kentfield)

Average Rainfall: 48.5 inches (Kentfield)
Here is a weather page for Marin County

I did not grow up in Kentfield, but I did go to high school there.

So, fast forward a few years. OK, not a few years, just a few husbands. I moved to the Mojave Desert. Married my sweetie and he moved us to Nevada, near Lake Tahoe. Ooh, weather. For the first time in my life, I actually had 4 seasons.

Then he moved us to Texas. Texas - I was thinking dry, hot, warm - you know, like the cowboy movies, right? Sure, baby, whatever you think.

I still have 4 seasons. There is windy with rain showers, there is hot and windy, there is windy and hotter, there is windy with scattered snow and ice and sleet and frozen fog. Frozen fog? Who the heck even knew that fog would freeze? Not me!

I understand that my weather is not nearly as bad as those folks in the actual Midwest or Northeast or Rockies or even Scotland, for pity’s sake. But I am in Texas!

So, add to the things that I have learned since I moved to Texas this:

FOG FREEZES!

And not after it has become condensation on something - it freezes in the air!

"The Most Exciting Day Ever"

We got up this morning and there was no snow. We snuggled back into bed to stay warm because it was cold, cold, cold - 30 degrees.

Lil man went to let the dogs out and "IT SNEWED DURING THE NIGHT!"

I told him that it had not snowed during the night. It must have just snowed. I got up and, as we looked out the window, got to say "It is snowing now!"

I went to make some coffee, leaving him at the dining room window. and heard him talking to the little dog, "This could be the most exciting day ever!"

And it could!