I CAN'T HELP IT

Yesterday the temperature rose to 71 here.  And we're a mile high in the foothills of Arizona. Not in the desert, where it was in the 80's. 

And this is February.  Early February.  As was easy to recognize when I watched the (Lyin' Brian-less) evening news last night which was dominated by video of huge piles of snow in Boston and warnings of another storm heading their way.

There's no snow here.  It's been 70 or above for three days or more now.

I grew up in North Dakota.  I was just having an email conversation with a friend who also grew up in that frigid snow-covered state. He remembered taking his wife "home" to meet his mother some years ago. It was at Christmas. They flew from Boston into Minneapolis, where it was 27 degrees below zero. Then they rented a car and drove to Bismarck. He said the temperature never climbed above 15 below. When they got to his mother's condo she had the thermostat on 80 degrees and a fire blazing in the fireplace. 

He and his wife now live in Southern California.

One of my first winters in Arizona I had my picture taken in a swimming pool, holding a glass of champagne and wearing a Christmas wreath on my head and a big smile. I sent it to my relatives in North Dakota. Like Queen Victoria, they were not amused.

So to you people in colder climes, I'm sorry. I know you're suffering and I know you don't appreciate hearing this type of crap from me, here in sunny and warm Arizona. 

But.  

I can't help it. 

I just can't.