It's winter! I think... maybe...

Guess what the temperature is today? Guess! I’ll give you a hint – yesterday, the high was 81 degrees. So know what it is right now? 36! 36 degrees! It’s like “feels like it’s practically December” weather! And it IS practically December! There’s even freezing rain in the forecast! Of course, it’ll melt the second it hits the ground, but hey – freezing rain! I’m using way too many exclamation points!!

It really WAS 81 degrees yesterday – a cold front came through overnight. It was very big news yesterday. Rick and I were listening to Jeff Ward (one of Austin’s radio personalities) yesterday afternoon, and he’d set up this whole “blizzard” spoof – every few minutes, a melodramatic voice would intone, “Blizzard 2006,” and Jeff was advising everyone to stock up on canned goods and bottled water, and to be sure to “tuck and roll.” What impressed me was the number of audience listeners who called in to play along :

“Oh, it’s getting bad here… just an hour ago it was 75… it’s already dropped down to 73.”

“I don’t know what we’re going to do – we can’t get to the store, and I’m all out of canned soup…”

“I just bought a new car, and I still haven’t figured out how to switch from A/C to heat.”

And then the pseudo-grim voice would say, “Blizzard 2006!” Rick and I were laughing so hard…

The ironic thing is that Eric flew down from Chicago yesterday, and Eric D. and Debbie and Patrick flew down from New Jersey – and instead of having a few days to bask in the Texas sun, everyone has been forced to bundle up in winter clothing. It’s actually in the 60’s today in New Jersey – so it’s one of those rare moments in time when it’s colder in Texas than it is in New Jersey. That doesn’t happen very often…

So could this be a turning point? Could we have finally entered Texas “winter”? Can I, finally, finally, at last put away my short-sleeved t-shirts that I am so very exasperated and bored with?

Sigh… this is Texas… land of unpredictable weather. I’d better keep them handy, just in case…