Here, in the summer, it's months of nothing but sunny weather and blistering, brutal heat. Last summer, several days had highs around 110 degrees. Texas also had the worst drought in recorded history. The summer heat gets old real quickly. Everything is hot. Don't walk barefoot on sidewalks or concrete or you could burn the soles of your feet. The tap water is warm. The attic is hot to the point it's unhealthy. The air-conditioning can't sufficiently cool some rooms down. It takes a while for the a/c in the car to cool it down.This kind of heat could kill someone if they're not careful. It's not the hottest place around the country. Phoenix and Tuscon Arizona as well as Death Valley, California get those honors. I was in Phoenix, Arizona once when it got up to a high of 120 degrees. The only places around here that are truly cold in the summer are the dairy and produce coolers and freezer (which is more like a whole room) at the grocery store where I work. It doesn't cool off at night here in North Texas, either. The temperatures hover around the mid to high 90's in the evening and sometimes it doesn't 'cool' down to that until after 10 PM. When it gets to be August, or September, I get so sick and tired of seeing sunshine! It's like the opposite of Ohio where you get sick of cloudy, rainy weather. But still, the early Spring around here in North Texas sure is pretty.
I remember when Steve and I were in Ohio and dating, we would go to the Spring Garden Show at the Ohio State fairgrounds in March. There were a number of temporary but pretty gardens set up in a big, open building and it was refreshing to get away from all of the gray, bleak weather. I remember one little garden with bushes, flowers, trees, a little wooden bridge and a fountain with little lights scattered through the garden. It was beautiful. Then gradually as the years went by, the people that ran that show started setting up more advertising kiosks and fewer gardens until it became one big parade of ads, kiosks and people giving demonstrations on what they considered amazing new products trying to lure customers and make more money. Eventually, there were few or no gardens. That's when we stopped going to it. I don't think those who ran that show even had a clue that they were driving people away by making it one big advertising extravaganza. The gardens were selling stuff too, but it was pretty and pleasant rather than a stroll through a live version of the Home Shopping Network on steroids. People in places like Ohio need to see a little green after months of gray, cold, rainy weather. In Texas, we need a little cool, rainy weather after months and months of hot, sunny weather.
Here in North Texas, Spring comes much earlier and there are sunny days and sometimes warm days throughout the winter. The Heard has had pansies planted near the animal care cottage for most of the winter and they are beautiful. Winters around here aren't as bleak but the summers are. A friend of mine once said that the summers here are like the winters up north, you can't spend any time outside and nothing grows.
Down here in North Texas, the weather is really different from Ohio. I've seen it get up into the 70's in November and December. After growing up in Ohio, where it's cold from September through April and sometimes into May, it's weird to come down here to North Texas and hear lawnmowers in February. I remember one day here in November, it was in the 70's and the next day it dropped down to the 30's. The other day, my son was working outside at the Heard Museum and a cold front move in. He felt it drop 10 degrees in just a few minutes. There's a saying, "If you don't like the weather here, wait ten minutes and it will change." Of course that's said about many places, but it's really true here.
Most people get all excited about Spring and warm weather. I tend to get a little depressed in the Spring, especially when it starts to get hot. I read somewhere that people up north can get depressed in the Fall with the onset of winter, but people who live in warm climates can get depressed about the onset of summer heat. It's nice to work outside when it's 65 degrees or even 70, but I hate being outside in the 100 degree heat. Most people go from their air-conditioned house to their air-conditioned car to their air-conditioned offices with very limited walks from the car to a building. As long as all of the air-conditioning is working, every thing is cool, literally. It's just that when the a/c breaks down that it gets unpleasant, or if you have to be outside in the heat.
Right now, we just need to enjoy the benefits of early Spring, like all of the beautiful flowers.
Bradford Pear Trees in Bloom
They're real pretty, but they don't hold up well, especially in storms.
Redbuds
One of my Hyacinths
It's hard to believe that it's now Spring Break and that Spring is almost here. Bradford Pears and Redbud trees are blooming. Hyacinths and Daffodils have been blooming. We've had a few bouts of 80 degree weather but over the weekend, we had a nice cool break from that. Monday, it got warm again. I think this past weekend was our last break before the weather starts getting hot. It will gradually get hotter as we move into April. Then it gets really humid around the end of May and in early June. After that, it dries up a bit and then the oven weather starts. I'm not saying that summers in Ohio are any picnic. There, it can be 99 degrees with 98 percent humidity and that can be as hot if not hotter than the 100-plus degree days we get here. In Ohio, the nights cool off, the humidity is still there, but the temperature starts to go down at night. In August, it really cools down at night. Still, I'm glad we don't get that kind of humidity here. I heard that in Houston, they do get that kind of humidity, along with Texas summer temperatures. I don't think I want to live in Houston.
So, I've spent this whole blog jabbering on about the weather and it's taken me several days to get it published. I just want to say that early Spring around here sure is pretty.
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