Monday

Greetings from Trent Ridge in beautiful rural Kentucky. When we got into the car to come here the temperature was just a little over sixty degrees, the sky was as cloudy as the apocalypse, and it was raining just a little. On our six-and-a-quarter hour drive we passed through sunny thundershowers, undercranked clouds of various colors, and some actual snowflakes. The pretty yellow sunlight gilded the hills while clouds brindled them with streaking shadows that made the pasturelands and leafless mountain passes along the Turnpike look like they were in an aquarium. Not all that wind was in the sky. Sometimes I had to fight to keep the little car on course, especially along the tops of the Appalachan Mountains. It was such a nice drive that we took an extra hour to make it, today. In Kentucky it's about thirty-eight degrees F, and it's wendy at the top of this ridge, too. There aren't many clouds left in the sky, but the southern Ohio forecast we heard in Charleston, West Virginia seemed to indicate there was a chance for some snow tonight, and a bit more tomorrow. I have my fingers crossed, but I don't know if this will help. It doesn't seem adequately cold or dark for snow. NPR told me back in Wytheville, Virginia that, what with El Nino and the rapidly disappearing ice caps, 2007 is predicted to be one of the warmest years recorded. I had to throw a little fit about this because, well, damn, I've been in the Northern Mexican desert for two years, and will soon be in the equatorial jungles of 'Nam for two more. 2007 is my one chance of some cool weather in between. Damn you global warming and cyclical Gulfstream pressure trend. This time it's personal. [Cavin]