records broken daily

Yesterday it was announced that February was the snowiest February in Oklahoma since 1924, and we were only 9 days into the month. This morning I could hardly believe the temperature gauge in the window. 19 degrees below zero!  The news says this is the coldest day in Oklahoma since 1929. In Bartlesville the low was 28 degrees below zero. If scientists don't get a handle on global warming soon I may have to move closer to the equator.

chili

Cooking and eating comfort food during these frigid winter days  helps to cope with the cold and the dreariness.  Last night I made chili. It was delicious but Dorothy thought I should have turned the heat down a notch or two. I told her  chili that doesn't make your scalp perspire is not chili but just a mixture of tomato sauce, beans and meat.  Remember those TV commercials for peppermint patties that claimed that with one bite you would imagine yourself a sled musher driving your huskies through a blizzard in the Iditarod?  When I eat my chili I am suddenly sitting by the campfire next to the old chuck wagon. My face still stings from the cold Texas wind that whipped me and my pony as we drove a herd of rangy Longhorns along the old Chisholm Trail to Wichita. Now, that's good chili.

January Cold

Yesterday it was warmer in Chicago, New York, and Juneau than it was in north east Oklahoma. This morning Dorothy and I were on the road before sun up on our way to a doctor's appointment in Owasso, a two hour drive. When we left home it was 9 degrees with a wind chill factor of below zero. The countryside was spotty with snow but fortunately the turnpike was clean and dry. After the appointment it had warmed up to a balmy 12 degrees. We stopped at a Cracker Barrel restaurant for some hot coffee with eggs, sausage, hash browns, biscuits and gravy and grits.  That kept us warm until our evening meal. Now it's almost time to turn in. I have the faucets dripping to keep the pipes from bursting. The forecast low is 4 degrees, but it's actually going to rise above freezing tomorrow. At 35 degrees it will seem like a spring day.