November 16, 2017 Thursday)
Thanksgiving Day is only one week away from today. The weather has been cool at times, but mostly warm. But, this is, after all, a semi-tropical climate location. Temps are forecast to be in the forties next Sunday morning.
I suppose it’s about time for us to cool off. Some folks really love it, and are hilariously happy when cool weather arrives. Sissies such as I have a hard time with it. I am convinced that my main respiratory problem this time of year and through the winter months is the cold itself. I sneeze my head off and sometimes get really sick from it. So, I just hunker down in the winter and wait for warm weather to return.
It’s been a while, but we have had some really harsh winters here in this tropical paradise on the Texas coast. No one will ever forget the beautiful snowfall on Christmas day in 2005. Even that, however, was not a bitterly cold day. No, what I’m talking about is the 
kind of cold weather that freezes pipes in many local homes and cause the flooding of those homes when the pipes thaw. I’m talking about ice in the salt water around the edges of Aransas and Copano Bays. I’m talking about huge redfish floating lifelessly in canals behind homes in Rockport, because of the sub-freezing temperature of the water. I’m talking about beaches covered with dead fish that froze to death, floated to the top of the water, then washed ashore. It has been very cold here at times. It wouldn’t hurt my feelings if it never froze here again, but it very likely will. Hope it’s not this year.
When I think about things like this, my mind turns to the subject of “global warming,” or, if you prefer, “Climate Change.” There seems to be sincere disagreement among the scientists about whether the present climate is an anomaly or not. Some of the evidence seems to say it is the effect of mankind’s activities, but not everyone thinks it is anything except a normal cycle. I am not knowledgeable enough to make a dogmatic statement about it, but reports of melting ice from the Arctic and Antarctica concern me. If there is any way we can take action to reduce man-made degradation of the environment, we should do it. Aside from the issue of climate change, the pollution of our planet’s land, air and water should always concern us and move us to do our part in reducing it. Our health and that of our descendants depends upon the health of Planet Earth.