Deep in My Heart is a Song

 

Today…Partly cloudy. Colder…blustery. Highs 2 below to 2 above. Wind chills as low as 25 to 30 below. West winds 10 to 15 mph increasing to 15 to 25 mph by noon.

Tonight…Clear…blustery. Lows 9 to 13 below. Wind chills near 30 below. Northwest winds 15 to 25 mph decreasing to 10 to 15 mph by morning.

Okay, before you get your panties in a wad and freak out, the above forecast is for Chicago. People who have never lived there have no idea how important the wind chill factor is and how it can make the difference between life and death. It is windy there most of the time. Can you even imagine what 30 below zero feels like? I don’t have to; I’ve lived in it. You stay indoors. Period.

The winter before we moved here, our December heating bill was $700. That was the bill for one month! We lived in a 100 year old house that, although we put plastic on the windows, towels around the door jams, kept the basement closed, layered our clothing even when we were inside the house, and used the heater as conservatively as possible; had drafts that would keep us huddled under blankets all day. The poor dog had to go outside to use the bathroom. She took to sneaking into the basement to do her business. Sure, I’d be mad at her but I totally understood what she was doing and why.I do love New Mexico, I do, I do, I do, I do… Albuquerque is wonderful; it is, it is, it is, it is. I love me some green chili. I love walking out my door or looking out my window and seeing a beautiful city, gorgeous mountains, big, fat, fluffy clouds in a stunningly blue sky, and black-dotted Petroglyphs that come with sound effects of yip-yapping-howling coyotes. These days, as I walk along those Petroglyphs, I find myself humming an old Sons of the Pioneers song:

I’m a roaming cowboy riding all day long,

Tumbleweeds around me sing their lonely song.

Nights underneath the prairie moon,

I ride along and sing this tune.

See them tumbling down

Pledging their love to the ground

Lonely but free I’ll be found

Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds.

Cares of the past are behind

Nowhere to go but I’ll find

Just where the trail will wind

Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds.

I know when night has gone

That a new world’s born at dawn.

I’ll keep rolling along

Deep in my heart is a song

Here on the range I belong

Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds.

Every time I see one of those tumbleweeds roll across the open space, I laugh out loud. The fact that I even know the words to this song just cracks me up. I am a huge Roy Rogers fan and tumbleweeds have always been synonymous of the West and all things Roy. (I still can’t stand Dale Evans ‘cause she married my “boyfriend” and ever since I was a little girl; I’ve disliked her for that. And her stupid Buttercup, too.) However, if you’ve ever hit one of those tumbleweeds with your car while traveling 75 mph down the freeway and it literally imploded into your vehicle, you know how dangerous they can be. But what a delightful sight they are as they travel along the wind (chill factor) across the plain.

I am wearing jeans, boots, a long-sleeved shirt and have a sweatshirt tied around my waist. (I am not cold today. Today I woke up and felt hot. I welcome the change and feel it probably is “The Change”; damn it.)

Chicago feels about a million miles away today. I don’t have to imagine what that weather feels like and I’m quite grateful that I’m not currently living in it. To all of my friends in Illinois: Bundle UP! I don’t miss it one bit.

Not to brag but… the weather forecast for Albuquerque today:

Today…Partly cloudy. Highs in the upper 40s to mid 50s. North winds 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon.

Tonight…Partly cloudy. Lows in the mid to upper 20s. Northwest winds 10 to 15 mph.

Downright balmy.

Enjoy your Superbowl Sunday wherever you are and “GO BEARS!”