Mother Nature, Snowmen and Al Gore

Gotta wonder what these 3 things have in common.  Well, I suppose you can tie them together.  Actually, you CAN see the similarities. 

This past week, Steamboat Springs, CO was whipped into a frenzy by winds that topped 123 m.p.h.  In case you weather bugs are listening - that's right - 123 m.p.h.  Pasadena, CA and the Santa Ana winds have nothing on the Yampa Valley.  I suspect the mighty Ute Indians were delivering some type of ominous warning to this valley.  Mother Nature got together with the indian spirits, huffed and puffed, and almost blew our house down. 

The high winds started in the middle of the night on December 1st.  Our overly paranoid, nervous dog Casey crawled on the bed and quivered in fear over what sounded like a freight train bearing down the mountain.  At 0710, while I was staring out the living room window, pondering why the trees in the courtyard had not blown their roots, and headed for Arizona, a large portion of the roof took flight from its anchors and landed smack-dab in the yard.  Unreal.  The sound was deafening.  I stood there, in shock, trying to take hold of what had just happened.  2 hours later, with another gust, the next portion of roof literally peeled off the building.   If ever I had any curiosity in what hurricane winds feel like, Mother Nature answered that question on December 1st.

Al Gore came out with a over-hyped movie a few years ago.  He claimed that we were in some horrendous global warming spiral, and that in some way, the GOP, George Bush and corporate America were in cahoots to heat the globe right out of existence.  It would appear that since that movie made headlines, America has seen more cold then triple digit numbers.  Everything comes and goes in cycles.  I doubt that Mother Nature has some alliance with any political movement.  Weather patterns are just part of the scheme of things.  I tend to get a real giggle out of alarmists who run crazy, like the 3 little piggies, squealing about global weather patterns and imaginary conspiracy theories.  Neither the Dems or the GOP had anything to do with my roof taking flight on December 1st.

One of the oddities of that horrendous winter/wind storm was the sturdy, son of a gun, snowman who withstood the hurricane force winds of December 1st.  He is still in the front yard.  Sure, he has lost a little weight with the sun shine, but he is one tough gun.  I have to wonder that if America, the economy, and all things relevant, were built with such determination and spunk, we'd be in a far better place.  The Occupy Movement, the self absorbed entitlement generation, the "I deserve everything for free"  group could take a lesson from the 6 foot snowman in my front yard. 

There are no guarantees in life.