snow

Winter finally arrived in Florida

I woke up to 35 degree F weather this morning. Windchill is in the mid 20s.

I know, that’s nothing to you guys with minus degree weather. And I’m always in NYC where I’ve been in 17 degree F weather at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, but I guess down here in Miami, the cold doesn’t feel the same – maybe it’s the humidity, but it feels much colder.

People ask how we can stand the heat and humidity of the summer, which we really don’t feel if we live here – I honestly feel hotter when I’m in NYC, so I guess with the cold, we feel colder even when it’s not as cold as up north.

Summer has been brutal in NYC these past few years – I almost had heat stroke a couple of summers ago. I’m just saying.

The last time it was 32 or 35 degrees here was about 15 years ago. I remember it well. We had a food festival in the village and I remember trying to sell drinks, sticking my hands in the ice to get the glasses ready, all bundled up. Every once in awhile that photo of me bundled up pops up on social media.

One of my cousins told me that she doesn’t want to hear any complaints about it being too hot this summer from anyone, since we are all wishing for warmer weather now.

When I was a kid, I always looked forward to cold weather in Miami. I guess as you get older, you don’t wish for cold weather anymore, although I do wonder about those people who live in the Dakotas, Minnesota and areas near there that say they love the cold and snow.

I saw a show on PBS not long ago about a town in Maine where they waited and wished for the snow – and they then did everything out in the snow – I don’t mean skiing and winter sports – I mean holding school classes at picnic tables and having picnics and of course swimming. Yes, they loved doing polar bear swims – more than once in the winter.

Some of my favorite tv shows are Alaska-basked – “Life Below Zero” and “Port Protection Alaska,” etc., and the residents there thrive on the cold.

I don’t want to say I thrive on the heat, but I now do prefer a 76 degree day to 35 degrees. I know the iguanas prefer it, too.

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It’s been a cold week

Read my blog: Tomversation.com
Subscribe via email to my cartoons here – they will arrive each Friday plus 2 short blog posts during the week.

Read my blog: Tomversation.com
Subscribe via email to my cartoons here – they will arrive each Friday plus 2 short blog posts during the week.

Florida’s bizarre winter: Falling iguanas and snow

It’s been a cold winder in Florida. Last week, it was about 39 degrees in South Florida with the wind chill one morning, and in the teens upstate in the Panhandle. It actually snowed an inch or less, but still, it was a white snow covering.

I can usually tell when it will be a cold winter from the weather we get in the Fall. If we get a day or two that’s cold in September or October, inevitably, it is a cold winter in December, January and February – not every day, but on and off during the season.

The thing all over the news, local and national, is the falling iguanas, who freeze up from the cold and fall from trees. It’s because they are cold-blooded and can’t regulate their body temperatures. They art sort of pliable, not stiff, and they don’t get hurt, they just make a plopping sound when they hit the ground. It’s almost as if they are playing dead.

I’ve seen thousands of iguanas around Miami all my life, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that has fallen from a tree. But I’ve seen it all over the news this week.

At times we’ve been in a park having lunch and look up and a bunch of iguanas are running through the lawn in unison, it looked like a mini Jurassic Park. They are ubiquitous around here.

One of my nephews had an iguana. His name was Iggy. He was well trained. He went to the bathroom in the bathtub and he had the run of the house. You would just be sitting on the couch and he would be walking, very slowly, behind you on the top part of the couch.

One time I had to go to their house to get something, no one was home. I walked into the kitchen, and there is Iggy, up on the counter, grabbing for the bananas. The large green body against the yellow bananas was startling.

One of my nephew’s first internet handles was “Iggy Falco,” which I laughed at every time I saw it. It was such a funny name.

I have a friend from New York who calls Miami the land of Peacocks and Palm trees. We of course have palm trees and we also have peacocks walking all over the place. We have to stop while driving to allow them to cross the street – everyday. And we also have roosters and chickens and of course iguanas all over. Yes, roosters and chickens. I hear a rooster crowing from down the block as I type this. A rooster. In an urban area. Don’t ask.

One time I was leaving Publix and a chicken and baby chicks were blocking my path. I got out of the car and waved a newspaper at them to get them to move (yes, a real printed newspaper). I looked up and a cop who was sitting in his car was watching and laughing.

Life down south.

Till next time . . .

Read my blog: Tomversation.com
Subscribe via email to my cartoons here – they will arrive each Friday plus 2 short blog posts during the week.