WAIT, IT'LL CHANGE

I've been over most of this country either by car or in my motorhome, and I am happy to report that in every city, town, village or other neck of our vast American woods natives to the area will cynically (and sometimes, proudly) tell you, "If you don't like the weather here just wait five minutes; it will change."

Everyone everywhere seems to delight in the thought that as good, bad or questionable their weather is at the moment, it will change, and change quickly sometimes.  Don't fret.  Don't gloat.  Just wait.

Well, weather does change, often for the worse.  (Nobody every complains about the weather changing for the better.) It seems to change for the worse when we least expect it; that is when we are outdoors enjoying a picnic, athletic event or some other activity in which the weather can play a part.

Such weather changes are common here in the mountains of Colorado.  (Similar rapid weather changes are probably common in other mountain regions, but I happen to be in Colorado.)  Just this afternoon, for example, we went from sunny to darkening clouds to winter in a very brief time.

Yes, in less than 15 minutes the sun disappeared behind quickening dark clouds.  Fierce winds blew in followed by rain, then sleet, then hail, then more rain.  The temperature dropped during that time from 75 to 45!  If you were caught outside, you were going to get soaked -- and get mighty cold. 

Twenty minutes later, the sun was out, the birds returned to the bird feeder (Where do they go when it rains, I wonder?  I've never figured that out.) and there are only a few white, fluffy clouds in the bright, sunny sky.

Wow!  Mother nature can sure present many faces at this altitude.

As fickle as she may be with the weather, however, she has rewarded us on other days with beautiful double rainbows or, at other times, soft soaking rains that green up everything and encourages native wild flowers to bloom.

Flowers here can spring up almost overnight.  Maybe this will be one of those nights.  We'll have to wait until tomorrow to see.  In the meantime, as I said, the sun is again shining and the temperature has risen to a nice 65 degrees.  The Stellar jays are congregating under the bird feeder again while the smaller birds have taken their places on the rim of the feeder.  The mountain bluebirds and one dove are bathing in the bird bath.  All is right on our little mountain top called Ponder Country.

But if you don't like this weather -- just stick around.  It'll change.