Grooming December 6, 2021
Heavy snow over night and today has Andy burning the candle at both ends. He did roll last night and plans to roll again today. Mid-season conditions won’t be far behind.
On a related note, the myth of washing one’s car to bring rain may still be supported but the idea of sending the grooming report writer south of the 25th parallel to bring snow may be another story. After a wonderful week+ in the magical Nonya, winter reared its ugly head. Temperatures dipped into the 70s, there were clouds and the thermals quit for two days. Granted, the desert is spectacular after a rain but without mid-day wind sports the day’s rhythm gets out of sync. So, last week we moved to the 20th parallel for warm wave surf. I packed a short-john and a full suit and needed neither; what a great thing. I don’t care how well you seal your dry-bag, travel with a wet wetsuit gets everything smelling like… well, you know.
Anyway, now, returning north of the 45th parallel, we are getting the best stretch of winter weather so far. In fact, this early season is shaping up to be one of the best in recent memory. This entire process of sending me south to make it snow reminds me of the Oracle of Dodona. But for the hundreds of inscribed lead sheets we would never have learned about the ambiguity of her answers. I expect, if asked, she would have listened to the rustling leaves and said something like, “It will snow when he travels” or some such nonsense. The powers that be could then take the statement and send me on a 5,000 mile goose chase knowing full well that it was meaningless. Pyrrhus must have known he received an ambiguous answer but pressed ahead regardless and look where it got him. And, who can forget the Greek’s failed attempt to colonize Sicily? I say, rustling leaves are ambiguous at best and synthetic goat entrails or pigeon livers aren’t much better. Here at the grooming report writer’s guild hall we no longer harm animals to predict weather. I think we need to go back to analyzing the size of Finlanders’ wood piles.
See you out there,
Sondo