With the slight chance of snow last Wednesday circling the bowl, the chances of our white Christmas went down the toilet as predicted by the scurs. Are our odds any better for the New Year? Starting on Wednesday. Partly cloudy with a chance of overnight snow. Highs of 35- 40 and lows around 30. Partly cloudy for Thursday with a slight chance of a rain/snow mix in the afternoon into the evening. Highs once again of 35 – 40 and lows near 30. A slight chance of rain and snow for Friday under mostly cloudy skies with highs reaching 40 and lows of 25. Partly cloudy on Saturday with highs near 45 and lows close to 25 for New Years Eve. Partly cloudy and slightly cooler on New Years Day with a slight chance of flurries. Highs around 35 with temps dropping to a brutal low of 20. Monday mostly sunny and cooler with highs around 30 and lows of 15 – 20. Slightly warmer and mostly sunny on Tuesday with highs of 35 and lows of 15 – 20. Our normal high for New Years Day is 23 and the normal low is 5. We will have gained four minutes of daylight since the winter solstice so things are looking up. The scurs will be putting their party favors in storage for another year.
Quite the winter we’ve been having so far or lack thereof. If you wanted a white Christmas you needed to look for snow on the north side of a building or grove. The warm trend seems to be hanging in there although some forecasters are indicating that by mid-January our luck may have run out. We shall see although at the same time we’ve burned up quite a chunk of what we typically consider winter. This one is beginning to remind me somewhat of the winter of ’86 – ’87 when it stayed relatively open and warmed up enough so that wheat was drilled into some area fields as early as late February. Something that was also typical that winter was blowing soil in the peats such as was seen in areas on December 26. Some snow cover would be welcome not only from a moisture standpoint but to help decrease the amount of wind erosion.
Minnesota Nice? It apparently doesn’t exist once we get behind the wheel of an automobile anymore. This past Christmas demonstrated the lack of courtesy many are displaying toward their fellow drivers. On the way to and from New Hope on Christmas Eve, it was almost epidemic the number of times I was passed while moving with the traffic flow only to have a driver cut in front of me at the last second to get off at the next exit. To make matters worse, on Christmas Day while travelling in excess of the speed limit myself on bumpy and rough Fillmore Co. 1, someone was on my tail until they turned off a few miles north of Spring Valley. Not to be outdone, while on Fillmore Co. 2 west of Chatfield, someone rode my rear bumper on the sloping, blind curves that were showing signs of becoming frosty as temperatures fell below freezing. I finally pulled over and let the clown by then followed them into Chatfield where they very immaturely stayed stopped once the light turned green to prove a point. They sure did alright. They proved to me as a result of their stupidity they arrived no sooner than they would have had they slowed down for the icy conditions and we have a growing problem with people who think the roadways are a racetrack and they’re self appointed NASCAR drivers.
Here’s a novel concept for the New Year: Let’s back off and drive more courteously. The few seconds you think you’re saving by riding someone’s tail could turn out to be among your costliest and deadliest. Deer can and do suddenly appear on a roadway in a fraction of a second. I know because I’ve hit them. That and you just never know who you’re messin’ with. When I was living in rural North Dakota, it was assumed that everyone was driving around with a loaded weapon because basically everyone actually was driving around with a loaded weapon, including me. I’m not advocating that here but oddly enough, the aforementioned poor driving habits were never an issue. Same holds true in regard to some of the unmarked cars (plain brown wrappers) floating around. You don’t know when they’ll show up either. I’ve stumbled across them a few times making my heart sink once the grille lights came on only to discover they were after someone far ahead of me who was making my own speeding look like I was in a Roman chariot race. If you’re offended by what I’ve written, good. I hope you’re ticketed appropriately and your insurance rates are jacked up big time if you’re unable to control yourself behind the wheel. Some of us are getting real tired of this type of behavior. I have a feeling I’m not alone.
On to a more pleasant automobile related note: The Studebaker project. The factory production order as they were known by Studebaker arrived last week. By supplying the serial number to the Studebaker National Museum I was able to obtain a copy of this informational document. Studebaker apparently kept fairly meticulous records of their production. The production orders from prior to 1959 are on microfilm and from 1960 – 1966 are original paper so the document I have is a direct copy of the original. It tells me the car was ordered on March 22, 1960 and the final assembly date was April 6 which coincidentally happens to be Bert Blyleven’s birthday. As I guessed, the paint color is the latter color blue that Studebaker used that year, Pacific Blue. Gulfstream Blue was discontinued on March 1, 1960. The serial number, the body number and the engine number all match those listed on the production order as do the key codes. The codes used for the various packages and options are exactly as they appear on the car with only a few minor add-ons from the dealership. This was not a high-end automobile and the Lark was never meant to be. Considering that this was Otto Hendrickson’s last car when he ordered it, that’s exactly what one would expect.
See you next week…real good then.