HI Nancy,   
      
   On Sat 2011-Dec-17 10:59, Nancy Backus (1:18/200) wrote to Richard Webb:   
      
      
    RW> YEah and I really don't like to have to worry about an open   
    RW> flame getting taken where I don't want it while the charcoal burns   
    RW> down to cook on it. If I've got to stand over it and watch it due to   
    RW> high winds I'd rather not.    
      
   NB> There is that too.  :)   
      
   Yep, would rather start it burning down to ready to cook   
   while I get things ready in the kitchen so that as soon as   
   the coals are ready I can put the meat on 'em.   
      
    NB>> I kinda like having a nice coating of snow for Christmas...  maybe   
    NB>> an inch or so... lacy trees and bushes, elegantly dressed for the   
    NB>> day...    
      
    RW> IT doesn't really matter to me, I can decorate my mind for   
    RW> the holidays with 70 degrees and blue skies just fine .   
    RW> Still remember hanging out at my cousin's in southern   
    RW> California one year on Christmas day.  I'm sitting in this   
    RW> patio swing, shorts on, cold can of beer in my hand, he's   
    RW> got shorts and sandals on and he says "but don't you miss   
    RW> being back home at Christmas, that world of white outside   
    RW> and ... "   
      
   NB> Lots of reasons why people aren't where they might be... ;)  I have   
   NB> a friend here that usually is "dreaming of a GREEN Christmas"...    
   NB> moving somewhere where that might be a likelihood isn't an option   
   NB> for her, though...   Besides, your cousin was probably just yanking   
   NB> your chain...!     
      
   I'm sure he was.  But, he ended up marrying a gal from   
   eastern Canada, her parents owned a plantation of sugar   
   maples, and he migrated up there to run that operation for   
   them, learned to tap trees and boil down that maple sugar.   
   That same cousin and I put a tobogan through the ice on a   
   creek one fine Saturday afternoon when we were both   
   teenagers .   
      
    NB>> Ice isn't my cuppa, either...  :)   
      
    RW> NOpe, really have a strong dislike of it.  I drove a   
    RW> newspaper customer bats enough after one bad winter fighting his icy   
    RW> sidewalk and steps on the top of a hill to where before the next winter   
    RW> he decided he'd rather buy his at the store.   
   IT wasn't in the nice little box on his porch rail where he   
   liked it, but launched to where it landed on his steps right at the door.   
    RW> ice underfoot.  One of the reasons I moved south.   
      
   NB> I was never all that keen on it, but after breaking and dislocating   
   NB> my ankle in '05 because of slipping on a pile of ice outside the   
   NB> church door, I'm just that much more leery of it...   
      
   I can relate, there's just nothing i can do with it, and   
   though my tumbling skills are still pretty good (first rule   
   of tumbling and gymnastics of that type is learning how to   
   fall) I'm not as agile or graceful as I once was when I was   
   a young whipper snapper.   
      
    NB>> Last forecast I saw for here has the temps getting into the 50's   
    NB>> by the end of the week... with rain...  Just a little warm for   
    NB>> mid-December, I'd say...  :/   
      
    RW> YEp, I'd say so.  We're about normal for this time of year   
    RW> so far, maybe even in the precipitation department.   
      
   NB> We actually got those warm temps... and now it's back to normal.. ;)   
   NB> Even got a dusting of snow overnight.  Sun's coming out, though, so   
   NB> I don't expect it to last too long this time... ;)   
      
   NOpe, we're pretty much normal, our low this morning 36 F   
   which was the high for MInneapolis.  Brisk and windy   
   yesterday when we ran errands, i didn't bring along gloves   
   or a head covering and wished I had when I had to get out to pump gas.  Today   
   isn't bad though, winds are back to 10-15   
   mph, temps in the 50's when I went out to take some garbage   
   out this afternoon.   
      
      
    RW> I'd rather we get it gradually though isntead of the way we   
    RW> caught up on our moisture last spring around here.  I'm sure the folks   
    RW> in that Alabama corridor would rather get it gradually too.   
      
   NB> Yeah... and up into the Hudson/Catskill/New England area as well.    
   NB> Flooding's no fun at all...  and neither is draught conditions...    
      
   YEah I know, and we've got both extremes.  A cattle   
   rancher/radio buddy of mine from central Texas is crying for moisture, so much   
   so that he's moved some of his stock up to some land they own in NEw MExico,   
   which before they just   
   leased out to an oil drilling operation, but now he's   
   running cattle on some of it, and he thinned down his herd a bit too even   
   though he wasn't real happy with the prices he   
   got so as to maintain a sustainable herd for the future but   
   cull the excess he couldn't support with the water resources available to him.   
      
   Regards,   
              Richard   
   ---   
    * Origin:  (1:116/901)