Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Weather forecasters

I used to have a kitty named Petunia. She was a beautiful, long-haired gray and white little girl that grew very loving as she grew older. Unfortunately, one year when we were traveling and were spending time in Sturgis at the bike rally she escaped through the RV door never to be seen again. I still miss her as she was a real little cuddle bug.

Petunia was the most accurate long-range winter weather forecaster you could imagine. If we were going to have a rough, cold and bitter winter she would grow a lion's mane around her head that was unbelievable. As I said, she was a long-haired cat and the lion's mane she grew was always long and silky. If we were going to have a mild winter she would still grow the lion's mane, but to a much more minor degree. She never missed a forecast in the 9 years that I had her. I still find it strange that animals can foretell things like that.

As I said I don't have Petunia anymore but I still have Ole. He doesn't forecast winters very well, but he does a darn good job on summers. To understand this you need to know a little background about Ole.

Ole worked for the same company for 30 years. For 30 years he wore a three-piece suit, white shirt and tie to work on a daily basis. When he retired at 55 he became extremely "stylin" and graduated to blue jeans, a t-shirt, a flannel shirt over the t-shirt and a pair of cowboy boots. On Sundays he upgrades to a pair of black jeans and a nice golf shirt along with the cowboy boots.

Now the reason I'm writing about this is that today Ole shed the flannel shirt and worked outside with just the t-shirt (and the jeans of course - where's your mind, People.) That absolutely has to mean that summer is upon us. It's a day to mark your calendars when Ole sheds his flannel shirt. It's really early this year as usually he doesn't quit wearing his flannel shirts until the 4th of July.

Ole grumbles about his flannel shirts. I don't buy expensive ones for him to wear out in the shop where they get all greasy and dirty and full of welding holes. I go to Wally World to buy his "Fashion Statements", and even though I'm able to buy Longs or Talls, he still thinks they're made for people whose arms end at their elbows. Ole's a big man - actually he tells people he's 5'14" - that explains why most of his flannel shirts look like they have three-quarter length sleeves. Fortunately the other part of his haute courtier wardrobe isn't as difficult to find - jeans and t-shirts.

Well, anyway, I just wanted to let you know that even though the first day of summer hasn't come to pass yet as far as the official calendar goes, Ole tells me that summer is here so you can all start to officially enjoy it.

Love Lena

3 comments:

harrietv said...

It's coming, it's coming. (I always keep reminding myself, here in New England.) We had the warmest early April in history, but the forecasters are predicting a week or so of colder weather. ("Wet snow in the higher elevations.")

Spring is coming...

Memaw's memories said...

Yes, summer is coming. Here in Arkansas, I turned my air on last night.

I just can't picture Ole in a suit and tie. You must post a picture.

Marge said...

Ernie has also shed his Wally World flannels! Now he's in his short sleeve plaid shirts from Wally World. He doesn't like to pay much for his clothes.......so don't tell him how much I paid for a pair of sandals yesterday!

Will honk and wave as we go through your area tomorrow. We rented a car because we drive a big truck that takes diesel and gets poor mileage, or a falling apart 12 year old van that isn't much better on the mileage. So we're styling in a shiny black Charger!