weather or not in history

Upsala was officially snowless as of Monday, but remnants of unofficial snow still hide in the shade and on the north side of the hills. If the March lion hadn't blown in a whirl of -20 degree weather this morning, I might have converted to Global Warmingism. But the lion prevailed, and now we're in deep freeze again.

While the rest of us mourned, Phillip and his buddies celebrated on skates. The lake ice had melted to the point that I fretted yesterday about my 84 year old father's ice fishing excursions. Today, the pools of water refroze, and the deteriorating ice underneath firmed up enough for the boys to resurrect their skates and have one last hockey fling.

Rumours of March snow in Atlanta and Kansas City make me wonder if climate change is actually climate shift. Who knows . . . my grandkids might grow grapefruit trees while Dixie breaks into the igloo business. Cool.

Here is a piece of Upsala trivia for those universally interested in our marginal village: the snow usually melts away by mid April and the ice goes out in the first week of May. The snow disappeared in mid March this year, and we could be canoeing in April. My Upsala hydrants (which were in creeks) are already gone. But you never know with those weather gremlins. They can conjure up snowstorms right to the end of May.

Speaking of water, a lot has flowed under the Upsala Fire Department bridge since 1987, our official birth year. Contrary to Central Universe beliefs, exciting things do occasionally happen here at the far-flung peripheral edge. Hazmats, fires, derailments, vehicle rescues . . . if a dedicated photographer rode the trucks, we would have a bulging file of amazing pictures. But we don't, so we rely on belated attempts to capture events long after the exciting part is over (if we remember to take pictures at all). I made a slideshow out of a handful of these photos, and threw in a few training shots as well, because everyone loves a raging fire. Click here to see 20+ years of history in 4 minutes.

Unrelated to weather or Upsala or firefighting, the Indian military has weaponized the hottest chili pepper in the world. Not a good time to be a terrorist.