Cabin Fever

It's snowing outside, again!

In a typical winter we get about 26 inches of snow. This year we have gotten about 50 inches, and 42 days remain until the first day of Spring on March 20!

Of course, if we use the averages, the snow doesn't look quite so bad. Last year we got about 12 inches of snow. So 12 +50 = 62. Divide by two and we get an average of 31 inches per year. Of course, the HOA is shovelling and plowing that 50 inches this year,  not the "average." So the costs of plowing will be substantially higher than they would be in a typical, or average year.

Looking at the snowfall numbers it would seem volatility doesn't simply impact the stock market!

The next photo is of Lake 4 yesterday. This is the same view as per the January-February association newsletter. That's the way this year has been. A warm front comes in, covers us with clouds and then blankets the area with snow. Then the cold front returns, the skies clear and we have a beautiful winter scene for several days. Then the warm front returns and it snows again. This is very similar to the patterns of 1977 and 1979. I first moved to Wheaton in 1978 and I remember that winter of 1979 very well. I hand shovelled a 90 foot driveway that year. At the time I thought "Welcome to home ownership." Yes, things don't really change, the weather is the weather and we do get some real winters from time to time.

So what to do?

One of the advantages of owning a condo is one can get away for a few days. No concern about shovelling snow, etc. Simply go to the post office and have the mail held. Then go to somewhere nice, like Sarasota. Well, I do have to work for a living. That's why I was in the San Francisco area a week ago. Now that area is struggling in the early stages of what may be a multi-year drought. Historically, or in recent times of 1000 to 2000 years, there have been droughts in the area lasting decades. This has been determined by studying tree rings. Most of us think in terms of months or a year or two. The planet operates on a different time scale. The area to the east of SF is brown and I was told "the hills will be black" in several months. It was dry and dusty. It was also very mild, with nighttime lows about 40F and daytime high reaching 70 - 73F. On my return, the temperature when I stepped outside of the O'hare terminal was 80F lower than it had been the day before. Ouch.

However, here is a recent photo I took in Sarasota. It was 80F and when I stepped out of the car the attendant at the restaurant said "Welcome to Paradise." Ah, but come May and the temperature will be in the mid 80's and won't return to the 70's until October.

How did we get to Sarasota? With our "alpaca" on wheels. For more, go to my RVing blog.

Clicking will open a  New Window> Roadtrekking

The expression is "Getting there is all the fun" and it was.