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Ramblings about the world and myself |
I have never really been able to write every day. I probably won't be able to do it now. I would like to write on a more regular basis. This blog is an attempt to develop a more regular writing habit. I can't guarantee an entry every day.
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| Nowadays people whine about how cold it is when the temperature drops into the lower forties. They ain't seen nothing! Our local meteorologist was talking yesterday about how the record low temperature for today was -21 degrees Fahrenheit at the Tri-Cities Regional Airport  in Blountville TN, in 1985. That reminded me of where I was that day. I was working as a ski lift operator at Ski Beech on top of Beech Mountain NC. I don't remember what the temperature was there. The temperature hit -32 degrees at nearby Grandfather Mountain . Mount Mitchell reached -34, which set the record for the whole Eastern Seaboard. .This vicious cold spell was called The Freeze of the Century .We stayed the night on the mountain and slept in the lift office. I got up and put on my usually adequate cold weather clothing and started the walk to my station. It was crystal clear and sunny. It looked beautiful. It didn't feel beautiful. The cold knocked me up one side and down the other. To say it was like walking into a freezer is a complete understatement. That kind of cold defies description. It is downright dangerous. It works its way right through winter gear and right to the bone. It takes your breath away. I don't remember it being windy. Thank God for that. I don't have any idea of what the wind chill would have been like. We usually switched off about every thirty minutes or so. That day we switched every ten. That was about as long as we could stand it. We had to check the customer's faces after every run for frostbite. We sent several to the Ski Patrol office for first aid. I don't see how the skiers stood it. They were tougher than I was. When thinking about that I have to respect people who live in climates where the temperature is that low on a regular basis. I guess you can get used to anything. January 1985 Record-breaking Cold: National Weather Service --------- Note: The links for Tri-Cities Regional Airport and Grandfather Mountain are weather record pages. |
| "Invalid Item" January 3, 2021 prompt: True confessions: Tell us why you'll always be a hippy. I am what you could call a second generation hippie . I grew up after the main hippie era in the 1960s. I went through various experiences that made me slip gradually into the hippie worldview.I was born in 1962. I saw a few hippies in the '60s, but was too young to really understand what they were. Hippies were often on the news that was on every evening, standing opposite the years long stream of the horrors of war coming out of Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos.* This contrast worked its way into my young mind. I think that was the beginning of my transformation. These disturbing images continued until 1975 when I was 14. In middle school, I realized that I was a really nerdy looking square sort of kid. I couldn't handle that. I started growing my "Hair" and started getting into Rock and Roll music. I listened to music from the'70s at first, and worked my way back to some of the more psychedelic music of the'60s. I got to hanging out with the partyers. Some of them were long haired, but I wouldn't really call them hippies. They didn't have the values of peace and love.Later, as a young adult, I got to hanging around with a larger variety of people, mostly partyers. Some were questionable, to say the least. I suppose that I was fortunate to have survived. Others were good honest people. Some were true original hippies. I saw the good in their values and worldview.I eventually altered my state of mind permanently, opening it to what I perceive myself to be, a hippie. I can be nothing else. ------------------- Here is a good overview of the ways of hippies. I don't live all of it. I take what is good for me from the hippie lifestyle. For example, "free love" in its fullest form isn't healthy these days. It never was that appealing to me anyway. Hippies From A to Z ------- *Though I am not a lover of war, I do support our military and veterans. Word Count: 362   |
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