Tuesday, January 6, 2015

SNOW MELT . . OR NOT

After a day or two of snowy weather last week, the back yard looked like this.


But cold weather and snow never last very long in Arizona and today, with the temperature in the 50's for the second day in a row, most of the snow is gone.


Last week, the front yard looked like this.


And today . . .


Well, ahem.  The difference comes in the direction the house faces. The front yard lies to the north and is protected from the low-hanging winter sun by shade from the house.  The back yard is nearly fully exposed to the sunlight so the snow disappears there first.

All of which won't make a darned bit of difference next August.

Last week when we were having our snowy, cold days the rest of the country was enjoying mild weather.  Today it's just the opposite. Down here in the southwest corner of the country, it is usually warm and storms like last week's occur rarely.

Which made me think of something else that has irked me for a time. Take a look at this map of the United States.


Take a look at Texas.  How do people get away with saying that state is part of the Great Southwest?  To me, it looks like it's in the South, an area that more aptly should be named the Southeast.  And when I lived in Indiana, that part of the country was called the Midwest.  Who do they think they're kidding?  Indiana obviously resides in the eastern third of the country. Seems like they should say it's in the Middle East.  But then that could be confusing, too, (said the old grouch as he went off to bury himself in his maps.)

17 comments:

  1. I seriously doubt the good folks of Indiana want to be referred to as The Middle East.

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  3. Excepting the deplorable fact that so many people in my experience do not have much of a grasp of geography, there is perhaps another aspect to consider. That is that people 'see' other places with a strong psychological input. This highly subjective impression of distance and orientation often puts places (not to mention times) in some rather bizarre locations. It is sometimes noted, with amusement, that Americans often need to qualify the name of a place with the country in which it is located; Paris France; London England; Rome Italy etc.. Does this indicate geographical confusion I wonder, or a desire to further elucidate? Perhaps your point also is dependent on your history when the wild west included areas that were not that far west, but merely in a western direction.

    (I removed my earlier comment to correct a typo.)

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    1. As a late colleague of mine used to say, "you may be right!"

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  4. Well, as a native North Carolinian I don't want to claim Texas, thank you very much. Besides - its west of the Mississippi & that's all that matters!

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    1. I suspect many of these regional titles were created by people who knew nothing about that land "west of the Hudson!"

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  5. Didn't know Alaska was your neighbor to the south, did you?

    Darn those mapmakers who try to save a buck! Putting Alaska down there on top of Mexico, or out in the Pacific Ocean. I have students who actually think Alaska is an island, somewhere near Hawaii.

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  6. Indiana used to be known as the "Cross roads of America." But it still gets cold and snowy there, mid west, mid east or the cross roads! And it obviously gets snow around the Catalyst lair as well.

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  7. Your front snow is still looking good.


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  8. Watching the regional news helps a lot to define where is what even without map I would say.
    Quite a difference in a day in Prescott!

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  9. I love your snowy shots. That cold front we had last week pretty much ruined my plans for that week. It was just too cold to be outside for very long. Then I go back to work on Monday and it's in the 70's. Simply not fair.

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  10. I was thinking the same thing as Val.
    I like your banner picture. Nice looking house and the snow flakes add to the beauty. And I love red doors.

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    1. Judy, that's the house we live in. And we love red doors, too.

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  11. People from Texas just say they're from Texas. 'Nuff said. ;)

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