I Hate Winter: The Continuing Story!

SHIP'S LOG:

     One of the things that drives me crazy about winter is that it is inconsistent.  I don't know for sure, maybe it is the infamous "global warming," but winter these days seems a whole lot less consistent that in years past. Perhaps I am just getting old and falling into the trap of the elderly, but winter weather seems worse in my long ago childhood.

     It seems to me now that way back when, winter arrived shortly after Thanksgiving and stayed until late March. I seem to recall that sometime before Christmas, the temperature would plummet and we would get a "significant" snow storm and the cold temps and the snow cover would last until "spring" arrived.  Throughout the winter, more snow would fall and there would be the January "thaw," but the snow and the cold temperatures would never really go away.  If it rained at all, it merely coated every surface with ice and the snow still remained.

    It is not the case anymore. This past week we had temperatures in the 20's and a little dusting of snow and by Wednesday it will be in the 50's with a lot of rain and wind.  Next weekend it will get cold and snowy again followed by a week of moderate temperatures.  When it is cold, it is too cold to work on the as fingers and brains don't function well in the cold, nor do the potions one needs to clean the boat and do up keep. When the weather moderates, it doesn't moderate enough. It moderates enough to get above freezing and so turn the ground around the boat into  a sucking mud bog. It moderates enough to get above freezing and allow ice and snow to melt and fill scuppers and drains, and find cracks and seams in which the water will freeze, making crack worse and causing flooding if at all possible. But it will not moderate enough to use caulks and/or paints and/or varnish and/or glue and/or adhesives and/or cleaners and/or degreasers and/or any such and that is the frustrating part. One simply can not get anything done without hauling those things that are haul-able to some place else where they can be worked on. Sadly, t'ain't a lot that falls into that category.

     And so I wait, secure in the knowledge that spring is coming . . . someday!