You can plan a pretty picnic, but you can't predict the weather

You can plan a pretty picnic, but you can’t predict the weather

Growing up as a Navy Brat – i.e. Papa was a sailor – I had the pleasure of living in locals with varying types of weather.

San Diego, California and Honolulu, Hawaii, quickly pop to the top of my list when the weather where I am living turns against me. San Diego is an average temperature of 70 degrees, 365 days of the year and if you live on the coast, the mercury in the thermometer never goes much higher than 88 and never dips much lower than 50. It’s pretty nice there.

Honolulu? Forget about it. The weather there is so nice that the majority of the friends I had while growing up there wore flip flops year round and only owned a few pairs of socks and maybe one pair of pants (their Sunday best, of course.)

Coming from higher altitudes and moving to places like Cali or the Aloha State, to me, is a simple transition. Making that move in reverse order? Not so much.

The news coming down the pike about the weather here in Montana this week is somewhat glum. Rain, 50-degree drops in temperature and snow in the September forecast already has me shivering. I’m not a huge fan of cold weather, though I have gotten more used to it in the last 20 years of living in the Treasure State.

Though I don’t care for the cold weather, I know some here do. David from Malta Appliance Center was at my house last week delivering a new washer and dryer and because I have only met him a few times our initial conversation centered around the weather. He said he was looking forward to cooler weather, as he doesn’t do well in the heat.

If the temperature goes much over 90, I am inclined to agree with David. That said, this past summer – because it is, indeed now past – I don’t remember a day when we got over 100 degrees. When I woke this morning (Tuesday at 3:30 a.m.) I was greeted with showers and wind. Blech.

The more I think about the weather, the more I have figured out that I pretty much complain about it, no matter what it is. If it is 85 outside, I sit in the house with the air conditioner cranked to 65. IF it is -10 outside, the thermostat in the house nearly melts off the wall (and if the wife and child are home, you can bake bread in the freezer it’s so hot.)

The old saying in Big Sky Country is that if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute, it will change. For the farmers and ranchers in the county, it’s my hope that the sun shines brightly for as long as possible and assists them in finishing their summer work – and, according to predictions, we should see at least one more week of 70+ before the snow flies.

For everyone else, burrrr. Here it comes. I’ll be sitting in my living room wearing an Aloha print shirt, drinking a pina colada and hibernating for the winter (and probably eating some fresh baked sourdough, straight out of the freezer/oven.)

Thanks for reading and aloha.