Saturday, February 4, 2012

February Fourth and FORTY TWO FREAKIN DEGREES - No snow for Snowfest

Well...here it is. February. Time for Snow Fest. It's 42 degrees outside. No snow. So people will just have to make do with beer.

My freakin' cabbages from last year that never fully grew...they're still doing fine. The brussel sprouts that never produced any brussel sprouts...they're still doing fine. Maybe they'll produce brussel sprouts this year. I'm confident they'll make it through the "winter" and have another go at it.

It's just weird, is what it is.

And here's a side note about that reduction of heating assistance from LIHEAP this year: A couple years ago when I was furious about a reduction of heating assistance being reported in Huffington Post I called the National LIHEAP office in DC to find out what the hell was going on and a kindly old lady called me back from DC and said LIHEAP / Department of Energy had gotten a huge amount from the stimulus, so funding it was bound to go down by comparison. Then she said, generally the amount of LIHEAP funding is figured using weather predictions and gas prices. A backup surplus is allocated in case the weather is colder than predicted.

This year, it seems to be the case that a warm winter was a relatively safe bet. And not just in Michigan. In Iowa City has been in the 60s this winter, it's not even below freezing right nos. Florida has been warmer, so says my family. Somebody I know in New Jersy says her tulip bulbs have started to sprout early.

Normally about this time I'm bundled up and shoveling the driveway daily, throwing salt on the driveway and looking nervously at my pile of wood as it dwindles faster than I think it should. Today I seem to be able to heat my house by throwing open a couple curtains on the south western side of the house.

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