Winter

Winter © Lincoln—

This has been much like winters I remember from the 1940s. Living conditions were totally different. Nobody had thermostats or furnaces in winter and only natural air conditioning in the summer—if you left the windows open. The snow fell, like it does nowadays but it never melted all winter and as cars packed the snow down until the streets were like ice and kids skated on them wearing ice skates.

This winter was cold, and stayed cold through January and our gas and electric bills from the utilities will reflect that because we used more natural gas for heating and we kept the lights on because it was always overcast, snowing or just plain gloomy weather. The dog didn't like to go outside and we seldom had to ask him more than once if he was ready to come back in the house. It was so cold on one occasion that he could not get his legs and feet to function properly and I thought I would have to go outside and pick him up and carry him back in the house. But he summoned up enough grit to make it back in the house on his own accord.
Last summer was hotter than the devil and we had to run the central air conditioning day and night—this winter was just the opposite—colder than brass monkey sitting on top of a fire hydrant in a sleet storm. Maybe this coming summer will be back to normal and the environment will not have to suffer through another dysfunctional year we brought on ourselves.