Welcome to 2018

[Snowhog]

Well, 2017 is finished and it’s day one of a new year. Here’s hoping that all good things are realized for everyone here in 2018.

[DoYouKubuntu]

I could not have asked for a more GLORIOUS day to start a new year. It's absolutely beautiful here, as anyone who watched the Rose Parade would know. No wonder the parade is one of the biggest factors for driving tourism here throughout the year--people in places with freezing temperatures and up to their eyeballs in snow see the sun and sleeveless shirts and blue skies and think, damn, that looks good! And they're right.

[MoonRise]

Happy New Year!!

[GreyGeek]

2017 went out with a bang here in Lincoln. Over the last week we've had nearly a dozen fires, both businesses and homes, and 5 are dead. This morning we were greeted with a clear blue sunny sky ... and wind chills of -31F

Also on the brighter side, today the University of Central Florida plays Auburn (which is predicted to win by 9) and then the coach of UCF returns to the Nebraska Cornhuskers to resume his new coaching duties for the paltry sum of $35M for 7 years. Scott Frost was the QB of our 1997 national championship football team. He took the UCF from a 0-12 season to a 12-0 season in just two years and won coach of the year honors, among many others. So, Husker fans are looking for good things in the future. Spoiled by Tom Osborne's stellar career, if Frost doesn't deliver you can expect the corn farmers to holler for a lynching.

Oh, Happy New Year to everyone!

[Rod J]

... see the sun and sleeveless shirts and blue skies and think, damn, that looks good! And they're right.

Same here ... mind you it's to be expected down here in New Zealand at this time of year! We've had an amazing start to the summer, although getting a bit of rain this week, but it's much needed as we've had very little rain for over two months.

Happy New Year to all!

[Qqmike]

Funny thing, growing up in Northern Illinois (Sterling IL), us kids couldn't wait for heavy, deep snow, the wind didn't both us, nor did the sub-zero wind-chills. We were anxious to get out there and build walls, forts, and igloos; and make way for snow slides in the street or downhill at the local grade school; snow ball fights (the walls and forts came in handy there!); ice skating on the river--thin as the ice often was in parts; and even riding bikes and playing basketball--in the snow, on the ice. We often got 10 cents or 25 cents for shovelling snow (sometimes, we were expected to do it for free by family and neighbors, and we happily did). Crazy as h&ll we were! But ... what doesn't kill ya, makes ya stronger, don't-chya know

Now I hear from friends back there and think, WTH, who the heck wants to deal with all that?! (I'm now out in central NM, today will be 50's again, warm enough to wash the car, which I did the other day.)

[GreyGeek]

Welcome to 2018

Qqmike, you described my experience growing up in Englewood, CO during the 1940-50’s. Snow=fun!

I learned to drive on the snow and could do 180 degree slide turns before I learned to row park. Roll up balls of snow till they were too big to roll - usually about 3’ diameter. Snow forts and snowball fights - I’m smiling as I write this. Grabbing the rear bumper of a car and getting pulled a mile to school as I squatted on my haunches. (Bumpers then could adsorb 15-20 mph collisions without suffering damage. Congress “fixed” that. Now a 5 mph bump will cause $4K or more damage)

I enjoyed making snow igloos and sleeping in a mummy sleeping bag inside one.

During the blizzard of 48 (or was it 47?) my job was to shovel a path to the coal shed and haul buckets of coal back to the house. The trench was waist deep.

Strangely, living just a few miles east of the mountains, I never learned how to ski. I did, however, ride car hoods down 150 yd hills.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[oshunluvr]

Growing up in Kansas City, we rarely got huge snowfalls, but I remember a couple. One year the whole block of kids got together and made a gigantic mound of snow in a wide ditch and packed it down and hollowed it out. By the time we were done, we had several rooms connected with tunnels and it was surprisingly comfortable inside! We laid blankets on the floors to sit on. It lasted weeks longer than the surrounding snow. Good times!

[Qqmike]

GG & oshunluvr ... Inside our forts and igloos, we used newspapers to line the floor. As you say, it was surprisingly comfortable. And rolling big snow balls 3-ft diameter, did that, too, and somehow we piled them up to build like a pyramid or large hill, maybe 15 feet high! and made steps and tunnels inside and around. King of the hill! Sliding down snowy-icy hills, we used cardboard, shovels, and most of us had a sled (wood with two metal rails), complete with a steering mechanism--such as it was! usually very mild steering capability, usually just smashed into something before being able to avoid it at the bottom of a hill. The nearby park would thaw then freeze, and we could ice skate all over the place. In fact, our backyard did that, and I charged kids a dime to ice skate there, until my mom made me return the money ...

aw shucks.

[oshunluvr]

...our backyard did that, and I charged kids a dime to ice skate there, until my mom made me return the money ...

I would have called smart thinking. Have you pointed out she ruined a future entrepreneur?

[Qqmike]

I would have called smart thinking. Have you pointed out she ruined a future entrepreneur?

Yeah, that's how I see it, too. Parents. What to do with them sometimes. Thankfully, my dad had much better sense!

[Qqmike]

This discussion got me thinking about growing up. My dad, an old German, had ideas, thoughts, expectations, and systems for almost everything, very careful, thought through everything. However, even that way, he let us kids hang out around the rivers, tributaries of the Mississippi--rivers, creeks, bayous. We hiked alongside the rivers, camped, made crude rafts out of old boards, and when it froze, we walked the river, we skated it, we stared at fish we could see through the ice layer, and we just had fun--we explored and acted like kids act. And, yes, on ocassion we encountered risks. Sliding from the bank into the water; having a raft sink; falling through the ice into ice cold water; and so on. But no big deal, we survived quite well, thank you (although a couple kids didn't through the school years), and it sure as sh&t beat sitting at home being idle. We were better for it, risks and all. Before we left the house for the day's adventures, we were told, "OK, but you be real damned careful you kids, and heed my advice if you do have a problem." That was that.

No government regs required. Common sense prevailed.

[Qqmike]

(Formatting issue: In my posts, I keep getting an extra line break inserted by the board somehow, like in #9 and #12 above.)

[oshunluvr]

(Formatting issue: In my posts, I keep getting an extra line break inserted by the board somehow, like in #9 and #12 above.)

I've seen that occasionally too. I haven't figured out what causes it yet.

[GreyGeek]

Some kids don’t survive. I graduated from Englewood Sr HS in 1959. There were 500+ in my senior class. I was from the “wrong side of the tracks” but never saw anyone smoke pot. On graduation night 6 freshly minted graduates died. All their deaths were due to too much alcohol. One drown. Another broke through a fence barrier on top of Red Rocks and slipped on pigeon crap and fell off the north rock. One of an alcohol over dose. The rest in car crashes due to their drunk driving.