SPRING

It was down to 0 degrees F this Morning. Cold but no record. It was 9 below in 1965. I only remember past weather when I have some connection; for instance a violent storm or a baby born.

My son Matthew was born March 13, 1965. Mom and the baby came home on the 17th. We had a great snow that Morning and the snow was so deep in our driveway that I had to park the car on the road and carry Mom into the house. It was too deep for her to walk. The snow was almost to my hips. My neighbor had an old Ford tractor and he came over and plowed us out.

March of 1965 was similar to this year, except a little colder and snowier. I have a another memory of that year; fast forward to May 5th. A tornado was seen in our area [Anoka Co. MN]. My wife and I and three kids were in the basement. I would pop up stairs every so often and see what it looked like outside. We did not have a finished basement. It was an old fashioned basement with an octopus furnace in the middle, but we found a way to be comfortable. The electricity stayed on and we had a radio playing to let us know when it was time to come out. Suddenly there was a roar that passed over the house. It sounded like a freight train. I thought it must be a low flying airliner. Then the radio started directing all emergency vehicles to an area East of us. I thought a plane must have crashed.

It was an hour or so later, after the all clear, that I realized it was a tornado that passed over our house on its way East. It did terrible damage in Blaine and Fridley, two communities of Anoka County. We knew several people that lost their homes in that tornado. Blocks of homes lost their roofs and many homes were totaled.

It is interesting that I remember the leaves plastered against the cars and paving the streets. Interesting because leaves typically aren't fully out that early[ in the area]. So here we had record low temperatures in March and yet we had an early Spring. The weather must have turned around on a dime.

Another scenario: March 1975. Different life, different wife; same weather. March was cold and snowy. It felt like Spring would never come. Most of the snow had finally melted by the middle of April. I was doing something in the driveway and I had the car radio on. The radio blared, a significant Winter storm was bearing down. What! It suppose to be Spring now. The snow accumulation wasn't too horrible and it didn't last long. But the middle of April!

We moved into our present house on May 1st 1975. It was muddy. The frost had just gone out of the ground and we got the moving truck stuck in the yard and had to call a tow truck. Not such an auspicious beginning.

So is this year going to be like 1965? Is it going to turn around and be an early Spring? Or is it going to be like 1975 and wait until May? Or perhaps it will be a different but equally memorable Spring.

It is 17.8 degrees F at 11:16 AM. The normal high for the day is 43. The normal low is 26. Hmmmmmm.

Despite the weather, the light is still shining brightly!

Love and Peace,  Gregg