by Greg Koelker
Hot enough for you? I bet you have heard that a couple of times this week. The great Oscar Wilde once wrote, “Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative.” If that’s all you got, so to speak. That said, many experts agree that a discussion of the weather is a great social tool and starting point. After all, the weather is relevant to everyone experiencing it.
Maybe you heard this one: “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” This is often attributed to Mark Twain. Actually, the famous line should be attributed to Hartford Courant Editor Charles Dudley Warner in 1897. Mark Twain published much of his work in the Hartford Courant. Warner and Twain wrote a novel together, The Gilded Age: A Tale Of Today. It’s the only known Twain collaboration. The HBO series The Gilded Age may get its title from Twain and Warner, but it is not a screenplay of the novel.
Speaking of nobody does anything about the weather, maybe this blast from the past will help some of you remember and cool down a little.
“I remember the inside of the barn on many bitter, cold winter evenings helping Grandpa at milking time. It was warm inside, and the air was thickly sweet and sour with the smell of cows. The cows, the clouds of their breath filling the feedbunks, were happily munching their ground corn as Grandpa went from one to the next with the milkers.
I would throw some of that summer’s stacked hay down a chute in the center aisle from the mow to feed for the night. Fourteen bales a night, I think it was. Once, I slipped and came down the chute myself. Fortunately, I was young and had a pile of bales to land on.
There were calves to feed from milk buckets and buckets of strained milk to be carried across the frozen barnyard to the milk house in the dim glow of the yard light. You could see thousands of stars as clear as anything when you walked back to the barn.” -GHJ January 14, 2004
Mountain Kids, Ben and Chris called from Colorado Sunday evening. Their weather has been dry. They had a super hot spell, and it had rained some since. They need it. Ben said even with the sprinkler going, their grass is brittle. The smoke from the fires to their west along the Utah/Colorado border is obnoxious. They have been getting out for some walks with their fur babies and getting high enough to find cooler air.
Until next time, get out and get back in the A/C as quickly as you can, unless you have a mountain trail nearby you can climb.
I filled a kiddie pool for Bo the day before this tropical weather blew in. He has walked through it so far. Don’t worry about him. Our kid in a gorilla suit is stretched out on the cool tile of our kitchen. OC, our barn cat is just a bit daft. I found her a couple of times in the heat of the day, curled up on the top shelf in our sweltering shop.
Anyway, the weather guessers are catching it this week. If all you have to talk about is the weather, you must not have much to say. But then experts say it is a great ice breaker. I stand corrected. That said, better check the ice cube supply.
Have a great Fourth of July.
Hope for the Brewers offense to find their bats again, and pray for peace.
Greg Koelker is a lifelong resident of the Driftless region along the Mississippi River. He is the acclaimed author of the “Grouse Hollow Journal,” a column that celebrates rural life, nature, family heritage, and the traditions that bind communities together. While technically focused on the “outdoors,” his writing often explores broader themes of community values and education.
Add comment