Lifestyles: December 2008 Archives

You know it's a slow news day when the Zogby Poll is looking forward to New Year's Day. Whoa, that's a week down the road. But the topic of the poll is who will you be kissing as the digital clock slides into '09. According to Zogby,
"more people will kiss their pet at midnight than will kiss a friend." You can't make this stuff up, folks.

The poll also finds that women are 4.5 times as likely to spend New Year's Eve with a pet than men are. That's because men will be out looking for those women who are staying home drinking Cold Duck with their pet.

And, the topper: Democrats are more likely than Republicans to spend New Year's Eve with a pet. That's because Democrats don't have any money to spend. They've been laid off. Their pets won't be judgmental because the laid-off Democrats don't have jobs going into the new year.

And to prove it really is a slow news day, the Zogbv poll also asked folks who they'd like to spend New Year's Eve with, Sarah Palin or Tina Fey. Thirty-nine percent said they would spend it with Palin; 39 percent with Fey. The Hound also hears the Sarah Palin calendar is No. 1 on the Amazon.com list for calendars. President-elect Obama's calendar is No. 8.

Does The Hound detect some gag Christmas stocking stuffers were purchased at the Alaska governor's expense. You, betcha!

Well, actually The Hound does call this bit of frigid air the first day of winter cold, very cold. Arctic, bitter, bone-chilling, you supply the adjective. At Waukegan Regional Airport the low was -7; the high -3. The high last year Dec. 21 at the airport was 50; the low 36. That's not cold.

At 3 p.m., two of us compared our in-car thermometers at a local watering hole just before the Vikings/Falcons game got interesting. One said -3; the other -4. They were parked next to each other. Go figure.

The Hound doesn't mind the cold weather, but not this early. Not in December. January, OK. You can't even spread salt when it's below zero; doesn't work. And, man, that wind howling through The Hound's dog house caused a mean headache. Or perhaps it was the Black Haus schnapps, something every should imbibe during a cold spell. Brrr!

Remember, though this is only December. The really cold stuff is still in store.

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We've certainly become a group of nervous Nellies. From the warnings dished out from Wednesday to Thursday and today, you'd think the sky was falling rather than a winter snowstorm. The Hound was never mollycoddled which meant even during blizzards accompanied with what seemed to be mile-high snowdrifts, it meant loping nearly a mile to school, uphill both ways.

Schools across Lake County began canceling classes Thursday morning in preparation for a doomsday scenario snowfall. Lighten up, folks. Winter doesn't begin until Sunday. That in itself is something to worry about.

But what if those weather prognosticators are wrong? And so if they're right? It's snow, not nuclear fallout.

One forecast The Hound saw predicted up to 14 inches for Lake County. Sounds like a snownormous weekend of sledding.

Until then, drive slow, hope your local public works department hasn't run out of salt yet and break out the sleds, snowshoes or cross-country skiis. You can't stop it, so just let it snow and ponder the wonder of a white Christmas this holiday.
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