For several days the weatherman has been predicting snow for Alabama and everybody's getting excited - except me! We have experienced enough snow for a lifetime and that's why we retired to the sunny south 14 years ago. I only remember it snowing once when I was growing up and that was in March when I was in the 6th grade. We went outside and collected some and made milkshakes by adding some milk and vanilla.
Our weather seems to get colder each winter and hotter each summer. I suppose it's because we are so warm or cool inside with air conditioning and central heat. Then when we go outside there's a drastic change.
Oh, well. I'm going to search the newspaper today for firewood just in case we use up all we have on hand in the next few days. There's nothing like standing in the front of a hot fire and warming your backside and then sitting in a recliner with a cup of hot coffee or chocolate, and catching up on the stack of magazines or a good book. Our morning temperatures have been in the teens and low 20s almost every morning for the past week and aiming for 13 degrees Sat. morning. The high hovers near 40 but the wind chill is much lower.
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Christmas of 1995 it snowed in Elba. James and I drove to Elba from Albany, GA two days before Christmas to spend the night with Aunt Bob and cook some Christmas food for her to have since she lived alone. As we were driving into Elba, it started snowing - giant snowflakes, and I had to turn on the windshield wiper in order to see. We got to her house and she was waiting for us and was bundled up to go outside. She wanted to go to Kelly's barbecue for lunch and for a ride in the snow.
When I suggested we wait until it stopped snowing, she said "No" - that she had been waiting for me to get there and take her out to eat. She knew I had driven in snow many times before and I would not have any problems. Soooo... I helped her into the car and away we went.
James and I had planned to spend the night at our farm, 8 miles out in the country. I was so cold when we got to the lake house but the little propane heaters soon warmed the little house and we settled down to watch TV. During the night James woke me up and said he was cold. I got up and checked the heaters and they were all cold. We had used all the propane gas. I got out more blankets and when it was daylight, we got up and got dressed and headed home to GA. But we couldn't leave right away. The snow had melted and had frozen and our front yard was like an ice skating rink. The car wouldn't go. James was getting very frustrated by this time. He had not wanted to go to Ala with me in the first place! Today was Christmas Eve and he was so afraid Santa wouldn't know where he was. We didn't have a cell phone back then or phone at the cabin so nobody knew we were stranded.Well, the sun came out and started melting the ice, and we managed to get the 1/4 mile to the paved US highway to start home. On the way home we passed the Coffee County courthouse in Elba and saw the ice in the water fountain.
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