Spoke with my sister Carol (who lives just outside Chicago) this morning to learn they had about 6” of wet snow with winds 40-50 mph. Didn’t rub in we were sunny & near 70. Hearing of their misery reminded me that we are still in Winter, although Meteorological Spring brings on March 1st. For us the higher sun angle means days are getting longer and the sun’s rays are getting stronger. We’ll see a slight cooldown on Friday before our next warm up arrives for Sat-Sunday. Lots of sun with temps 65-70+. Can’t complain for late February.
Which gets me thinking about some of the “extreme colds “ I’ve endured living here for 38 years. Back in 1983 we had a hard freeze and my neighbor, Master Plumber Mickey Scholl told me I needed to drip my water. I thought I was OK but one pipe outside one of my bedrooms froze. I didn’t know it until around 10 AM when the temps had warmed above freezing. Hearing a loud hissing sound, I rushed into the bedroom to feel the squish, squish of a wet soaked carpet. I raced to turn the water off outside but the damage was done. Over came Mr. Mickey with a sledge hammer & tools. He immediately began bashing the sheetrock wall until he found the busted pipe. With some cutting and using a blow torch, bud da boom, the pipe was fixed. It took longer to fix the wall & carpet. But my lesson was learned. I got outside faucet covers and have not had a busted pipe since. The worst freeze was in 1989 when MSY dipped to 11 degrees & Lake P. froze on the South Shore. I lost all my citrus trees and most of my plants. Another memory was our last real snow in Dec. of 2008. I was going to the doctor for my pre-op for rotator cuff surgery the next day. The heavy snow didn’t last but 1-2 hours but it was enough to make for a New Orleans winter wonderland. Since I hate cold, I’d rather forget the freezes. Tomorrow, I’ll look back at some of our hurricanes.
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