January 26, 2010

The Smell of Change

I love living in the country. I've lived out of the city most of my life except for a small stint in a big college town in my 20's and a longer stint in a big coastal California town where I could hang out anonymously and not know any of my neighbors until I learn later on the news that they all committed suicide because of a comet.

When you live in the country it's a lot easier to become in tune with the natural world around you. The smells are different, there is little light pollution, noise pollution, and general... pollution pollution.

The other night I stepped out onto the porch and on my first deep breath I thought, "Hmm, smells like snow is coming."

Seriously? On a conscious level I have no idea what it smells like when snow is coming, but apparently my highly evolved limbic system does because that's what it was telling me.

This coincides with an interesting conversation I had with my brother the other day.  I drove to where he works to give him a late birthday present I made for him. I dreaded handing it over to him because I was certain that he would hate it.  First of all, it's homemade and what guy likes homemade crap?  Second, you just have to know my brother -- he's half Farmer's Almanac, half UnaBomber. And what I made him was knitted cowl out of camo yarn to keep his neck warm while he is hunting or working in the woods. It's a gift that was doomed to fail on so many levels.

Turns out after an agonizing three minutes that felt more like ten minutes of him looking in the mirror and turning side to side and peering out at me with one eye he proclaimed, "You know... I like it."  At that point I had to sit down for a minute.

He then walked me outside and took a smoke break and complained that people were putting their cigarettes out in his pansy planters. My brother the UnaBomber Almanac loves to plant pansies in the winter. He describes them as "hardy as hell."  We went on to discuss the unseasonably warm weather we were having and how nice it was compared to the icy abuse that Mother Nature had heaved on us a couple of weeks ago.

"It will be like this a few more days. It's always like this until your birthday. Every year right after your birthday we get it again. It will be bad."

I stood there staring at his butt-filled pansy planters and didn't say much, wondering how in the world he remembers stuff like this that there is always a cold snap after my birthday. Who pays attention to that stuff year after year? We stood in silence for a while longer with just the sound of him blowing second-hand carcinogens out into the fresh air.

Soon I went off with not much thought about it again until I stepped out onto my porch the day after my birthday and realized that a cold snap was coming. And sure enough it's here with more to follow this weekend.

Who knows if we will get snow. We'll see. I'm no weather girl, but I do smell a change comin'!

17 comments:

  1. I can't believe I forgot to call you on your birthday!! I hope it was a great one. I love you!

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  2. This was a good post..oh, and yes men and old codgers appreciate things at which others might be surprised,, lol

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  3. He truly IS like the farmer's almanac! And I don't really UNDERSTAND that almanac. What is it based on? And how does it predict the future? How DO IT KNOW as they say?

    Glad your brother liked his gift. Surprise,surprise!

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  4. Around here, if it's Stock Show time, it's time for snow or ice. Who needs an almanac?

    I'm sure the neck warmer will come in handy!

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  5. Good post - nice to hear about your brother, didn't know you had one. Nice to have you back too.

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  6. Wonderful post! Isn't it strange how something with the weather just 'tells' you something is about to happen? The day the tornado hit south Wichita, ran up through McConnell AF base and on up north, my daughter and I were on our way into Wichita to do some shopping. I had mentioned that I didn't like the color of the sky and wanted to turn the radio to KFDI to hear if they were reporting anything. My daughter said she didn't want to listen to country music so the station wasn't changed. To make a long story short, we pulled up to the K15 Quik Trip pumps just as someone was running to the building yelling "TORNADO!!!" I saw it out the back door of the store as it hit McConnell. My daughter insisted on having the radio on KFDI when we left, BTW. :)

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  7. 1. Happy Birthday; just had one of those myself...dagnabbit.

    2. I can smell snow coming. Not unlike a hint of rain coming in the spring, shortly afore it arrives. Of course, I have it confirmed when it goes up my nose...no doubt about the smell then.

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  8. good post, except a little change in your writing style, perhaps....

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  9. Damn girl! What happens when you get your car washed?

    P.S. Was hoping your brother rejected the scarf -- I would have taken it in a heartbeat. Happy birthday!

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  10. I do enjoy everything the city has to offer, but I think I would really love living in the country. It must be nice to have all the space to yourself and the quiet of it all.

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  11. And yay for knitting! I love knitting!! I plan to knit as many christmas presents next year as possible!:D

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  12. Happy belated birthday. Good reflective post.

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  13. Thanks, everyone, for the birthday wishes. By the way, just so you know, we got several inches of snow and I am spending three glorious days being snowed in with movies and video games and knitting. Aaah, life is good. (Well, except for also having strep throat and puking up antibiotics.) TMI, sorry. :)

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  14. Wishing you a very belated birthday but then I'm a guy LOL

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  15. Most interesting...I enjoyed reading this post very much. Don't ask me why, but I could actually see you and your brother contemplating the silence in brother/sister togetherness. Very nice. I'm glad he liked the gift, it's very practical, even if it is homemade crap. I love getting homemade crap. It's much better than store-bought crap when you think of it...took the person more time contemplating before giving the gift. Very nice. Did you get snow?

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  16. Oh, just wanted to add a very belated "Happy Birthday!!". I just had one too - hit the big 50. Holy crap!

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