Gobal - Warming or Cooling?

Hey -- I looked outside the other day and it was SNOWING. I'm talking real snow flurries, in the sunny state of Kentucky.

What the ----?

Now this is something that I had not seen. But let me tell you, the weather is a whole lot colder than it has been in the last 16 years. I've seen snow falling a couple of times since then, like tonight. It's not sticking, thank goodness. But my faith in Kentucky weather has been badly shaken. What happened to the long, lingering fall where there was 60 degree weather until January?

What happened to global warming? Climate change, the slow baking of the Earth until the poles melt and the state of California is just a few islands. You know, the ocean front property in Nevada that we were promised.

Could it all be an exaggeration? Like Obama being a Muslim? Or Peak Oil and the emanate destruction of all technology with Y2K?

Oh NOOOO, Mr. Bill! How can that be?????

Hmm, well my faith in more than Global warming has been shaken. But like any other of the wild and crazy fears that the media has harped on, this one is loosing it's credibility.

Hype, unfortunately, has it's good points. It sells papers, TV spots and makes a lot of dim-witted celebrities look good. And I'm sure that a number of people got rich over it.

Before I get off on the right(winged) foot, I do believe that we as a species have made some horrible choices. There is no doubt that we, the human species in general and the Nation of the United States in particular, are resource hogs, oil addicts and too damn greedy for our own good.

However, our beloved planet has a few more tricks up her sleeve in the name of climate. There is no predicting the weather. There are supercomputers, doo-dads and weathermen all dedicated to telling us the weekly forecast, and that is not accurate either. Let's face it, some years are colder than others.

My long-term weather forecast happens to be three horses. Oppie has a very long thick winter coat this year. Oppie is usually as slick as -- hmmm -- a politician in an election year, until January. But the last two years she has gotten furry in November, 2 months early. Ned, my 7/8ths Thoroughbred gelding, is once again as soft and furry as a kitten. (I even have a kitten to compare him to, and it is very close.)

Brown woolybears not withstanding, I'm taking a hint from the old mare, and getting ready for another early, cold winter.

So, I will fall back on nearly 50 years (gag me!) of experience to say: This is going to be a cold winter. I'm going to stock the pantry, and have the old fireplace ready to go. The flannel sheets are on the bed, the flannel PJ's out of storage. We have an electric blanket for later in the winter, and three dogs to use as foot warmers.

The crock pot is full of elk-soup, there is a fire in the fireplace. The horses have a round bale of hay in the pasture, and some square bales in the loft.

Let it snow! Let it snow, let it snow.