Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Tuesday Drippedydoodamnrainihateu


It's like I had to validate myself.  On Oct. 25, at least a week prior to the official "I Hate Winter" season, I announced to Bill last night that I was stir crazy.  I also told him that some people are perfectly content to spend time inside their houses working on projects----but not me!

Then, he said something to the effect of, "And, this is only the second day of how many more months?"

I told him I had kept pretty busy throughout the day, doing housework, going to town, visiting the library, talking on the telephone to friends---and I still almost went nuts yesterday.  And, yes, this was only the second day of approximately 200 such ugly, gray and gloomy days ahead.

To make it worse, Annie posted more than 100 photos on Facebook of her vacation time in sunny Maui---the Luau, the beaches, the mai thai's, the bamboo forest, the nudist beach with the drummers and, yes, the SUN.  A great big one too.

Did you know that the sunsets in Maui are magnificent?

Well, Annie's photos reminded me of that.  I wonder how long it will be before we see another sunset over Schweitzer.

This morning I felt so sorry for the horses that I fed them in their stalls.  Poor Lefty.  He comes back from a box stall and blanket in Spokane to cold, wet, drizzle and muck. 

At least, the horses can get out of the rain with the open sheds in the pastures.  I did not put a blanket on him because what good's it gonna do when it's soaking wet.

The horses were appreciative this morning.  I'm betting they hate this stuff even more than I do.

Every year I try desperately to figure a way to overcome my moods during this time of year when the doom and gloom starts and we live in dread of the long gray months ahead. 

I learned one option from a lady at Co-Op yesterday (there were LOTS of people at Co-Op and even more at the library, more than likely doing something to get out of the house).

"Get rid of your animals," she said, "and go somewhere." 

"But I love my animals," I said.  Good suggestion but not in the cards for me.

Besides, it's not the animals' fault that Mother Nature treats us so badly.  I do think they deserve better, but SHE apparently doesn't. 

The horses' barnyard is slowly turning into a lake,  and the area where they go into the barn will soon turn into a churning mass of mud.  I know that because I looked at the weather forecast on Yahoo. 

All those drippy icons indicated that we would have this stuff every single day until at least next Wednesday, precisely the same amount of time we have to be deluged with those Patty Murray-Dino Rossi, Baumgartner-Marr, Labrador-Minnick ads.  I don't know which is worse---the ads or the weather.

Tom Sherry, who has to face us every night on KREM-2 tries to paint a more positive picture.  He said the rain would last through 11 p.m. last night.  Well, Tom, it was still pelting away this morning. He also promises us one nice day in between all the storms.

I noticed last night that he and the other KREM news announcers tried another ploy.  They knew that at least a portion of their audience would be happy if they peppered the news broadcast with stories of snow around the region.  They were careful to subtlely slip in that the snow would be at areas above 4,000 feet.

But they knew there were skiers and boarders out there who would consider their rationalized view of the ugly weather as "music to their ears." 

One story even told of how the folks at Lookout Pass are "ready."  They had their job fair last week, so if that snow keeps coming to the mountains while it rains like Hell down below, they're ready to kick into gear for the skiers.

Well, after all the horse injuries and the money spent having horses trained that I cannot ride because of the rotten weather, I'm NOT gonna take up skiing or boarding very soon. 

So, that brings me right back to where I started.  Gotta find some ways to get through this.  I have found that if I seed my morning comment on Facebook  with something particularly nasty about the rotten weather, I'm sure to hear from other gloom-and-doom faithfuls. 

The snow lovers usually start their own string of "Hallelujah's," lest they get chewed out by us gloomers and doomers (GADs).

Sure enough, this morning the GADs had plenty to say, and it wasn't nice.   After reading one comment, I decided that we need to start an "Ain't It Awful" coffee klatch.  For us horse women who are mad cuz we can't ride our horses for the next 6-8 months, we need to get together at each other's homes with the coffee perking, of course.

On each visit, we can go outside, slog through the mud and look at each other's horses, swap a few stories and then sit inside with our coffee, watching it rain and dreaming of a day far off when the sun will shine again, the flowers will bloom, and the trails will be waiting for us to plod on down them.

In the meantime, drip, drip, drip . . . .out, out damned drops!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I beg to differ - there are not 200 gloomy gray days ahead. We get LOTS of sunshine here and when the sun shines on the beautiful snow it is brings about a brighter day. I LOVE the overcast and rainy days too. More rain, more snow - bring it on! I like to think of this time of year as insurance against summer fires.
I will never understand Sandpoint natives that complain about the weather - WHY live here if you don't like having 4 seasons?