What's the Deal with Winter??

I know that for a lot of my European friends, this will not be any comfort, and might sound an odd complaint, but where is the world is Winter?  It is Monday, the 13th day of February, and we have just had our first cold weekend of Winter.  It was in the Mid 20s overnight for two straight days, but we are heading for the 50s again here in just a few days.  The more I see this kind of activity, I am not as sure we are in Global Warming as we are in "Global Climate Change".  It should start raining in the world's deserts anytime now.  I am pretty sure it IS getting warmer, as the ice caps are melting, but I am becoming ever more convinced that what we are actually experiencing is a shift in the earth's magnetic field, rather than climate change per se.  I do believe in the power of greenhouse gases, but the pole IS shifting and the weather IS moving.  Igneous rocks show distinct evidence that the world's magnetic polarity has indeed flipped several times, likely many times, and other studies and methods have determined it likely that tremendous changes in global weather have accompanied these polarity changes.

So what does this all have to do with cigars??  Well it's interesting..................Nah, that's all I've got, I was just BSing.  Rain and seasons may eventually impact growing zones and planting schedules, but I have absolutely no idea.

And I am no fan of cold weather, but I HATE oppressive heat, so given a choice, I like the cold.  I can buy and put on a coat.  Once I am down to my naked skin, I can no longer moderate the temperature downward.  So even I know, we need to get down into the tens and teens for a few weeks every year, preferably spaced every 3 weeks or so.  It's just odd that we have only had this one cold snap so far this year and we are well into February.  I will try to smoke a cigar this week.  This past weekend was supposed to have been the time.  I chickened out.  I even went for a walk on Saturday that was supposed to be 4-5 miles, but when I turned south on what is generally a southwest journey halfway to the park, I quickly realized that 3 miles back into that cold wind was not happenin'.  So I turned due east and cut my walk down to a mile each way, perpendicular to the wind.  That was fine enough.  But anyone who was thinking, 'GREAT, another blablabla blog about general BS and no cigars and no pictures', take heart....I did manage to smoke some excellent beef ribs in that chilly weather..

Boy were they good.  I also smoked a Boston Butt, but I let the heat go too variable, and while it was DONE through, it did not fully disintegrate the connective tissue properly before I got tired of tending it, so I sliced it up into big chunks of meat.  OUTSTANDING.  Had some Sunday morning, pan-fried with a couple of eggs and two slices of rye toast spread with delicious real butter and a cool glass of milk.  Life in the south is good.

Right until they cut off your legs for diabetes, anyway.