Lodged in my memory from the debate during then-Gov. Jim Gilmore's no-car-tax proposal is a fellow citizen's litany of levies already assessed on vehicles.
In a fit of pique, she listed all the fees we have to pay to the government on what is most peoples' second-most-expensive purchase in their lives.
There's registration fees and tags, there's sales taxes, there's vehicle inspections, there's locality decals and there's taxes charged on the necessary gasoline to operate each car. After that, she continued, each vehicle owner also has to pay annual personal property taxes on top of everything else.
Of course, at that time, people believed that the governor's proposal would eliminate personal property tax collections.
The illusion was nice while it lasted.
I can well understand the resentment on the wealth of provisions that apply to the automobile — in our society it's well-nigh impossible to do without personal transportation.
Besides a people conveyance, our cars have proven quite an efficient vehicle for generating government revenue.
But this is a case of you-don't-get-something-for-nothing, as the roads we need for our cars to go on, the paved ways that communities depend on so heavily for economic development and growth, the costs mount up and quickly.
Anyone who's been in listening distance of Virginia State Senator Roscoe Reynolds, D-Henry County, knows he's been talking about this shortage of road maintenance funds as a problem that been mounting ever Gilmore was in office.
It can cost millions per mile to create a road. We only need to consider the ongoing installation of the Hillsville bypass at approximately $15 million per.
Events during our nation's economic crises and the advent of new technologies may well lead to a new method of using cars to drive up taxes, much to the displeasure of all citizens who must depend on them for their livelihood.
Desperate for funds to maintain the highways and byways we've got — a reported 47,000 miles in our country's interstate system alone — states may work out a way to tax drivers per mile.
My information comes from a Charlotte Observer article explaining that a "road-use tax" may be collected to replace waning gas tax revenue, as people drive less in the wake of the credit crunch and other uncertainties arising from the slowdown in the economy.
North Carolina might just check the odometer on a car during an annual inspection and charge a tax based on the miles added over last year, the article says.
Simple.
Transportation officials expect to be able to track all vehicles in the future, with the increasing appearance of global positioning systems as a feature on cars and trucks.
Constant monitoring may allow the state to "charge people different rates based on when and where they drive, in an attempt to manage congestion," as The Observer puts it.
The way it might work is a state charging a fraction of a cent per mile driven, after the first 2,000 miles click over on the odometer, the article says. At a quarter-of-a-cent, a driver who puts 12,000 miles on would pay $25 a year, for example
Need for such a tax will only continue to grow, as Americans switch to more fuel efficient vehicles in the future.
Even with just people driving less, North Carolina expects a shortfall of $193 million in just one year.
Transportation officials foresee implementing the driving tax in combination with the gas tax.
But there's one more force that would have to be brought to bear to create a new tax: political will.
When it comes to raising the tax on the people, the will of politicians to do so often is in short supply.
But really what choice will elected officials have?
With a (very) conservative estimate on the value of the interstates at $1 million per mile for a total of $47 billion, can public officials make the decision just to let those degrade?
We've got to maintain what we've got or risk throwing those investments away.
New revenue initiatives are unlikely to stop at a driving tax, if that comes to pass. Look for an increase on gasoline taxes as well as any alternative fuel that may come down the pike to replace it, in my opinion.
But before government officials consider adding more new roads to the system and more maintenance expense, I hope they will seriously think about investing in mass transit instead.
But, in the meantime, I would take with a grain of salt any politician who promises "no new taxes."
Especially on our cars, because on top of our private costs to operate them, there's also a huge public expense to build out and keep up our transportation systems.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Friday, December 19, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Seeds of recovery
A new generation of chestnut trees got a public rollout on New York's Governors Island in a ceremonial groundbreaking Dec, 11 for the Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative.
The phrase "a new generation" of chestnuts is literally true, as researchers working with the American Chestnut Foundation have been crossbreeding the domestic species with its Chinese counterpart in hopes of coming up with a blight-resistant tree.
This species would be about 15/16ths American, hopefully with all the attributes that made the chestnut a forest favorite and an economic boon.
These chestnuts will be among the 38 million trees planted to restore lands stripped and mined in the Appalachians. The restoration pledge was made as part of the United Nations' Seven Billion Tree Campaign.
Five chestnuts planted at Governors Island symbolized the hopes of many that the good health of forests may return along the East Coast — the pre-blight natural range of the tree.
Estimates say the disease killed four billion chestnuts, the straight-growing and sturdy tree favored for furniture and construction before it was nearly wiped out in the first half of the past century.
Organizers felt it fitting to reintroduce chestnut trees to New York, as the first realization of the blight problem occurred not far away, near the Bronx Zoo in 1904.
An agreement with the federal Office of Surface Mining has been a catalyst for what some refer to as the chestnut's renaissance.
"The idea of pledging support to the UNEP's Seven Billion Tree Campaign materialized when 12.7 million trees were planted in 2007 on mined land in the Appalachian coal fields" under the Appalachian initiative, said Brent Wahlquist, director of the Office of Surface Mining, at the event.
Trees being planted over the next three years on mined lands are high-value, native hardwoods. The program to restore disturbed land to good health with reforestation will serve as a model for other parts of the world, he said.
Details about the mines reclamation project are available at the chestnut foundation's Web site, acf.org.
"For each American chestnut seed that is planted on a surface mine, up to 600 other native, high-value, hardwood trees, such as red oak, sugar maple, yellow poplar, black walnut, and white oak, may also be planted in the planting mix," it said.
"Because the American chestnut is a cultural icon, its inclusion contributes mightily to the efforts of the Office of Surface Mining to increase reclamation with other high-value hardwood trees, to significantly improve the survival and growth rate of those trees, and to enhance forest habitat ...
"Its inclusion also results in an enhancement of ancillary environmental benefits of properly reclaimed forests, such as increased carbon sequestration, wildlife habitat, and reduced runoff, erosion, sedimentation, and downstream flooding."
Wahlquist noted that university scientists, mine operators, foundation members and school children planted almost 12,000 chestnuts on old mines during Arbor Day events this year.
"The enthusiasm generated by the planting of those chestnuts was phenomenal. The American chestnut is like a 'magic bean' for surface mine reforestation and OSM anticipates that our partnership with the doundation will play a key role in the reestablishment of healthy and productive forests on mine sites across Appalachia."
While news releases recalled the range of the chestnut tree spread from Maine to Georgia, neither reported a total amount of land intended for the reclamation project.
An Associated Press report estimated 2.7 million mined acres, and around 300,000 acres were suitable for chestnut trees.
The feds solicited volunteers among mine operators to participate in the effort.
While reforesting the stripped lands is the best imaginable use in terms of environmental quality, reaching the lofty goals of restoring good health to the lands and wildlife found there may not be possible without a high amount of acreage becoming part of the program.
Forest fragmentation is considered a culprit in the decline of songbirds, for one through the invasion of their nests by parasitic cowbirds.
Cowbirds lay their own eggs in nests of songbirds and leave it for the victim to raise as its own, according to The Macphail Woods Ecological Forest Project. It is believed that cowbirds can lay 40 eggs in a season.
Research has shown that cowbirds don't practice their subterfuge in nests in the deepest forests that remain, but are most prevalent in the smaller remnants of woods decimated by development.
So, to me, the question is: will the rise of the chestnut tree from the ashes of blight inspire new preservation and conservation efforts?
Will people go out and replant the forests instead of building homes with sweeping lawns, pave parking lots, put up another chain store, on the flattened lands?
Lately, the trend has been to build on every available tract, whether suitable or less-than-suitable. Or so it seems.
Will this reclamation effort foretell the amazing recovery or forest and wildlands? Could billions of chestnuts stand tall over the Twin Counties in a few decades, providing shade, timber, firewood and nuts to roast over an open fire at Christmas?
It's like that old saying about it taking a wise and generous person to plant a tree, under the shade of which he may never sit.
The important thing to remember is the seed has been planted.
The phrase "a new generation" of chestnuts is literally true, as researchers working with the American Chestnut Foundation have been crossbreeding the domestic species with its Chinese counterpart in hopes of coming up with a blight-resistant tree.
This species would be about 15/16ths American, hopefully with all the attributes that made the chestnut a forest favorite and an economic boon.
These chestnuts will be among the 38 million trees planted to restore lands stripped and mined in the Appalachians. The restoration pledge was made as part of the United Nations' Seven Billion Tree Campaign.
Five chestnuts planted at Governors Island symbolized the hopes of many that the good health of forests may return along the East Coast — the pre-blight natural range of the tree.
Estimates say the disease killed four billion chestnuts, the straight-growing and sturdy tree favored for furniture and construction before it was nearly wiped out in the first half of the past century.
Organizers felt it fitting to reintroduce chestnut trees to New York, as the first realization of the blight problem occurred not far away, near the Bronx Zoo in 1904.
An agreement with the federal Office of Surface Mining has been a catalyst for what some refer to as the chestnut's renaissance.
"The idea of pledging support to the UNEP's Seven Billion Tree Campaign materialized when 12.7 million trees were planted in 2007 on mined land in the Appalachian coal fields" under the Appalachian initiative, said Brent Wahlquist, director of the Office of Surface Mining, at the event.
Trees being planted over the next three years on mined lands are high-value, native hardwoods. The program to restore disturbed land to good health with reforestation will serve as a model for other parts of the world, he said.
Details about the mines reclamation project are available at the chestnut foundation's Web site, acf.org.
"For each American chestnut seed that is planted on a surface mine, up to 600 other native, high-value, hardwood trees, such as red oak, sugar maple, yellow poplar, black walnut, and white oak, may also be planted in the planting mix," it said.
"Because the American chestnut is a cultural icon, its inclusion contributes mightily to the efforts of the Office of Surface Mining to increase reclamation with other high-value hardwood trees, to significantly improve the survival and growth rate of those trees, and to enhance forest habitat ...
"Its inclusion also results in an enhancement of ancillary environmental benefits of properly reclaimed forests, such as increased carbon sequestration, wildlife habitat, and reduced runoff, erosion, sedimentation, and downstream flooding."
Wahlquist noted that university scientists, mine operators, foundation members and school children planted almost 12,000 chestnuts on old mines during Arbor Day events this year.
"The enthusiasm generated by the planting of those chestnuts was phenomenal. The American chestnut is like a 'magic bean' for surface mine reforestation and OSM anticipates that our partnership with the doundation will play a key role in the reestablishment of healthy and productive forests on mine sites across Appalachia."
While news releases recalled the range of the chestnut tree spread from Maine to Georgia, neither reported a total amount of land intended for the reclamation project.
An Associated Press report estimated 2.7 million mined acres, and around 300,000 acres were suitable for chestnut trees.
The feds solicited volunteers among mine operators to participate in the effort.
While reforesting the stripped lands is the best imaginable use in terms of environmental quality, reaching the lofty goals of restoring good health to the lands and wildlife found there may not be possible without a high amount of acreage becoming part of the program.
Forest fragmentation is considered a culprit in the decline of songbirds, for one through the invasion of their nests by parasitic cowbirds.
Cowbirds lay their own eggs in nests of songbirds and leave it for the victim to raise as its own, according to The Macphail Woods Ecological Forest Project. It is believed that cowbirds can lay 40 eggs in a season.
Research has shown that cowbirds don't practice their subterfuge in nests in the deepest forests that remain, but are most prevalent in the smaller remnants of woods decimated by development.
So, to me, the question is: will the rise of the chestnut tree from the ashes of blight inspire new preservation and conservation efforts?
Will people go out and replant the forests instead of building homes with sweeping lawns, pave parking lots, put up another chain store, on the flattened lands?
Lately, the trend has been to build on every available tract, whether suitable or less-than-suitable. Or so it seems.
Will this reclamation effort foretell the amazing recovery or forest and wildlands? Could billions of chestnuts stand tall over the Twin Counties in a few decades, providing shade, timber, firewood and nuts to roast over an open fire at Christmas?
It's like that old saying about it taking a wise and generous person to plant a tree, under the shade of which he may never sit.
The important thing to remember is the seed has been planted.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Interest is sprouting
Practically anywhere you look and see a flat place in the Appalachians, there used to be a mountain there.
The old Blue Ridge used to be a lot taller than they are now — age has stooped the mountains over time, worn them down and washed them away.
Man has stepped in to speed up the process, sending up bulldozers to the top of the hills to send aggregate spilling down the slopes with each processed and scooped for coal or other minerals.
Southwestern Virginia has its share of the pushing-down-a-mountain-type mining. Most of the earth moving that's done around the Twin Counties is to get at the rock itself.
The severe appearance of the cut and bare face of such a mountain comes as quite a visual shock, especially as it usually remains surrounded by lush and verdant hills.
But there's an intriguing idea out there that's seemingly gaining acceptance by scientists and foresters and miners alike, to not only reclaim the mined-out land but to quickly restart whole forests of the East's blighted chestnut tree.
In July, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne planted a blight-resistant American chestnut tree in the nation’s capital to celebrate 30 years of reclaiming mine lands since the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977.
"The industry has successfully reclaimed more than 2.2 million acres of mined lands,” the otherwise obscure and very low profile Kempthorne said in a news release. “At many mines, the reclamation work has far exceeded all state and federal regulations."
Efforts now include planting both pure and hybrid chestnut trees to reforest stripped areas, as this will provide a great opportunity to repopulate the species that the blight nearly wiped out.
“At breeding orchards in Virginia and at Penn State University, the American Chestnut Foundation’s scientists have taken Chinese chestnut trees, which are resistant to the blight, and bred them with their American cousins over several generations,” said Marshal T. Case, President and CEO of the foundation. “The most recent generations of hybrids have nearly 95 percent of the American chestnut’s genes, combined with the blight resistance of the Chinese chestnut. After 25 years of effort, we are producing seeds and seedlings to replant across the American landscape.”
The sturdy and straight growing chestnut would also supply ample benefits for these local economies, with community-boosting profits from future timbering and credits for carbon sequestration in the trees.
The blight killed 3.5 billion chestnut trees, which once accounted a quarter of all trees on the East Coast and in the Ohio Valley.
The American chestnut tree grew to heights of 100 feet with a five-foot diameter, the news release said. The chestnut also had the advantages of straight grain, light weight and natural resistance to decay and insects, once making it a favorite for construction and furniture making from America’s colonial days.
“In planting this tree, we are planting the hope and making a commitment that this noble hardwood will be restored to the American landscape and its vital ecological role in our nation’s forests,” Kempthorne said. “With our partners from the American Chestnut Foundation and the mining industry, we are working to help return this natural icon to Appalachia by planting it on reclaimed surface mine lands.”
“The coal fields of Appalachia match up almost perfectly with what once was the natural range of the American chestnut,” Kempthorne explained. “And we have discovered that chestnuts grow twice as fast on the loosely packed soils commonly found on reclamation sites.”
Because reclaimed mine sites in Appalachia are surrounded by forests, wildlife will spread the American chestnut seeds from reclaimed areas to neighboring forests, allowing nature to repopulate the mountains with the American chestnut, the news release said.
• Originally published September 2007
The old Blue Ridge used to be a lot taller than they are now — age has stooped the mountains over time, worn them down and washed them away.
Man has stepped in to speed up the process, sending up bulldozers to the top of the hills to send aggregate spilling down the slopes with each processed and scooped for coal or other minerals.
Southwestern Virginia has its share of the pushing-down-a-mountain-type mining. Most of the earth moving that's done around the Twin Counties is to get at the rock itself.
The severe appearance of the cut and bare face of such a mountain comes as quite a visual shock, especially as it usually remains surrounded by lush and verdant hills.
But there's an intriguing idea out there that's seemingly gaining acceptance by scientists and foresters and miners alike, to not only reclaim the mined-out land but to quickly restart whole forests of the East's blighted chestnut tree.
In July, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne planted a blight-resistant American chestnut tree in the nation’s capital to celebrate 30 years of reclaiming mine lands since the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977.
"The industry has successfully reclaimed more than 2.2 million acres of mined lands,” the otherwise obscure and very low profile Kempthorne said in a news release. “At many mines, the reclamation work has far exceeded all state and federal regulations."
Efforts now include planting both pure and hybrid chestnut trees to reforest stripped areas, as this will provide a great opportunity to repopulate the species that the blight nearly wiped out.
“At breeding orchards in Virginia and at Penn State University, the American Chestnut Foundation’s scientists have taken Chinese chestnut trees, which are resistant to the blight, and bred them with their American cousins over several generations,” said Marshal T. Case, President and CEO of the foundation. “The most recent generations of hybrids have nearly 95 percent of the American chestnut’s genes, combined with the blight resistance of the Chinese chestnut. After 25 years of effort, we are producing seeds and seedlings to replant across the American landscape.”
The sturdy and straight growing chestnut would also supply ample benefits for these local economies, with community-boosting profits from future timbering and credits for carbon sequestration in the trees.
The blight killed 3.5 billion chestnut trees, which once accounted a quarter of all trees on the East Coast and in the Ohio Valley.
The American chestnut tree grew to heights of 100 feet with a five-foot diameter, the news release said. The chestnut also had the advantages of straight grain, light weight and natural resistance to decay and insects, once making it a favorite for construction and furniture making from America’s colonial days.
“In planting this tree, we are planting the hope and making a commitment that this noble hardwood will be restored to the American landscape and its vital ecological role in our nation’s forests,” Kempthorne said. “With our partners from the American Chestnut Foundation and the mining industry, we are working to help return this natural icon to Appalachia by planting it on reclaimed surface mine lands.”
“The coal fields of Appalachia match up almost perfectly with what once was the natural range of the American chestnut,” Kempthorne explained. “And we have discovered that chestnuts grow twice as fast on the loosely packed soils commonly found on reclamation sites.”
Because reclaimed mine sites in Appalachia are surrounded by forests, wildlife will spread the American chestnut seeds from reclaimed areas to neighboring forests, allowing nature to repopulate the mountains with the American chestnut, the news release said.
• Originally published September 2007
An old chestnut
Sometimes it seems like we might have to change the old saying to "you can't see the forest for the disease."
Trees still spread their branches over a large portion of the Twin Counties, but many face a growing number of health-related issues — issues that could considerably impact the economy and the beauty of the region.
The news isn't all bad, however.
Gypsy months continue their swarm of destruction, flying into parts of Carroll County. Gypsy moth caterpillars are said to cause $22 million in damage to trees a year by slowly and inexorably chomping down on the leaves of deciduous hardwoods at night until they're stripped down.
Female moths get too fat to fly and they wait for the males to find them, reproduce and die.
Many scientists, including those at Virginia Tech, are working to slow the spread of the moths to only 6,000 square miles by confusing the males with fake pheromones
The Twin Counties have seen its stout hemlock trees ravaged by the woolly adelgid, a leaf bore.
Whole swaths of forests in the Twin Counties have been turned from healthy green to dull brown as the hemlocks, said to be one of the better trees for use in log cabin construction, get attacked.
Virginia appears to be bearing the brunt of the woolly adelgid invasion on the East Coast, with more counties affected than any other state.
The dogwood — both Virginia's state tree and flower — faces a raft of challenges from fungi, especially anthracnose, which continues to spread along the Appalachian Mountain chain through West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina.
Even the might oaks can be felled. The Daily Press of Hampton Roads recently reported that forestry personnel were baffled by widespread deaths among oak stands in eastern Virginia.
Trees died, dried up, apparently overnight, landowners reported to foresters. Others lived.
Researchers had no concrete conclusions about the causes behind these deaths, but could only conjecture that they resulted from stress related to weather over the long term.
Virginia Department of Forestry officials told the newspaper that first the drought, followed by heavy rains associated with Hurricane Isabel and then this year's heatwave were too much for the trees in the end.
Water rotted the roots in the ground and eventually killed many trees.
People out West have to worry about Sudden Oak Death. Scientists believe a fungus-like organism related to the one that caused the Irish potato famine has led to significant die offs in coastal California.
Foresters and others in Virginia and other parts of the country are on high alert to keep this disease from spreading to our area.
Tree diseases left a big scar on the forests of the Twin Counties when a blight decimated the American Chestnut tree.
The stout chestnut covered the mountains, with its white blooms making the Appalachians look snow-capped, according to the American Chestnut Foundation.
A good tree for lumber, the tree was used for telegraph poles, railroad ties, shingles, paneling, fine furniture, musical instruments, even pulp and plywood, and the nuts added to the mountain economy as a cash crop besides.
The foundation set out to make sure the American chestnut flourishes again by genetically crossing it with the disease-resistant Chinese variety.
A research farm is located in Meadowview, but work to revive the chestnuts also takes place in the Twin Counties.
Chestnut trees grow in the Matthews State Forest and on private land around here.
Researchers report success in developing healthy trees that resemble the American chestnut of old. They believe a highly disease resistant variety will be available within five years, but the full breeding project could take as much as 50 more years.
People can help with the research and the restoration of chestnuts by becoming members of the foundation.
For more information, visit the foundation's Web site at http://www.acf.org/.
The health of trees is a quality of life issue for the Twin Counties' residents. We can't afford to lose our trees to another plague.
* Originally published in August 2005.
Trees still spread their branches over a large portion of the Twin Counties, but many face a growing number of health-related issues — issues that could considerably impact the economy and the beauty of the region.
The news isn't all bad, however.
Gypsy months continue their swarm of destruction, flying into parts of Carroll County. Gypsy moth caterpillars are said to cause $22 million in damage to trees a year by slowly and inexorably chomping down on the leaves of deciduous hardwoods at night until they're stripped down.
Female moths get too fat to fly and they wait for the males to find them, reproduce and die.
Many scientists, including those at Virginia Tech, are working to slow the spread of the moths to only 6,000 square miles by confusing the males with fake pheromones
The Twin Counties have seen its stout hemlock trees ravaged by the woolly adelgid, a leaf bore.
Whole swaths of forests in the Twin Counties have been turned from healthy green to dull brown as the hemlocks, said to be one of the better trees for use in log cabin construction, get attacked.
Virginia appears to be bearing the brunt of the woolly adelgid invasion on the East Coast, with more counties affected than any other state.
The dogwood — both Virginia's state tree and flower — faces a raft of challenges from fungi, especially anthracnose, which continues to spread along the Appalachian Mountain chain through West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina.
Even the might oaks can be felled. The Daily Press of Hampton Roads recently reported that forestry personnel were baffled by widespread deaths among oak stands in eastern Virginia.
Trees died, dried up, apparently overnight, landowners reported to foresters. Others lived.
Researchers had no concrete conclusions about the causes behind these deaths, but could only conjecture that they resulted from stress related to weather over the long term.
Virginia Department of Forestry officials told the newspaper that first the drought, followed by heavy rains associated with Hurricane Isabel and then this year's heatwave were too much for the trees in the end.
Water rotted the roots in the ground and eventually killed many trees.
People out West have to worry about Sudden Oak Death. Scientists believe a fungus-like organism related to the one that caused the Irish potato famine has led to significant die offs in coastal California.
Foresters and others in Virginia and other parts of the country are on high alert to keep this disease from spreading to our area.
Tree diseases left a big scar on the forests of the Twin Counties when a blight decimated the American Chestnut tree.
The stout chestnut covered the mountains, with its white blooms making the Appalachians look snow-capped, according to the American Chestnut Foundation.
A good tree for lumber, the tree was used for telegraph poles, railroad ties, shingles, paneling, fine furniture, musical instruments, even pulp and plywood, and the nuts added to the mountain economy as a cash crop besides.
The foundation set out to make sure the American chestnut flourishes again by genetically crossing it with the disease-resistant Chinese variety.
A research farm is located in Meadowview, but work to revive the chestnuts also takes place in the Twin Counties.
Chestnut trees grow in the Matthews State Forest and on private land around here.
Researchers report success in developing healthy trees that resemble the American chestnut of old. They believe a highly disease resistant variety will be available within five years, but the full breeding project could take as much as 50 more years.
People can help with the research and the restoration of chestnuts by becoming members of the foundation.
For more information, visit the foundation's Web site at http://www.acf.org/.
The health of trees is a quality of life issue for the Twin Counties' residents. We can't afford to lose our trees to another plague.
* Originally published in August 2005.
Frosty no more
Putting up evergreens indoors, lighting candles, caroling, throwing a Yule log on the fire, sitting on Santa's lap serve as just a few traditions that people of the United States practice as a part of Christmas celebrations.
I can think of a few acts that I don't want to see become commonplace as a part of the winter celebrations — putting on sun block, mowing the lawn, turning up the old air conditioning.
Once, a couple years back, I recall it was only a week before families traditionally get together to exchange gifts and the thermometer had been tipping 70 degrees even in the mountains of Virginia.
That was one of the the lengthiest Indian summer I can remember. (Or is it Native American summer?)
I found myself in short sleeves barbecuing chicken on the back porch for dinner that year.
That doesn't seem seasonally appropriate.
So did I miss something? Like the news that the Earth is plummeting toward the sun?
That would have explain the freakishly warm temperatures, but not even former Veep Al Gore has gone there in my hearing.
After 2005 was named the hottest year in a century, people have to wonder: Is a green Christmas a trend that will continue in the future? In places that were formerly known as winter wonderlands?
If so, the word "anachronism" comes to mind.
All those references to "Frosty the Snowman" and "White Christmases," all those snow globe decorations and all those cards and wrapping papers showing winter scenes will in the future turn out not to reflect the real-world experience we have during the holiday season.
Palm trees will become more of a holiday icon than the whited out winter landscape.
It'll be like the line in the famous Christmas song about roasting chestnuts on an open fire, after the chestnut trees caught a disease and mostly died.
Sledding and skiing could become a thing of the past, too.
While still offered in stores now, sleds may become something we see only in museums.
No more icy forts, no more snow man building, no more frozen projectile fights.
Lots of people abhor winter. I always embraced it.
Some of the most fun I could have as a boy involved shooting down an icy hill at break-neck speeds, crashing and becoming lodged in a snowbank after schools unexpectedly closed due to the weather.
Now I can imagine a future in which children draw a blank whenever the concept of freezing precipitation comes up.
"Kids, when I was your age, rain that fell during the winter used to be called snow," we adults will have to explain. "It looked all small and white and starlike."
I hope not, but there may come a time when white Christmases will only occur in old movies and in our dreams.
I can think of a few acts that I don't want to see become commonplace as a part of the winter celebrations — putting on sun block, mowing the lawn, turning up the old air conditioning.
Once, a couple years back, I recall it was only a week before families traditionally get together to exchange gifts and the thermometer had been tipping 70 degrees even in the mountains of Virginia.
That was one of the the lengthiest Indian summer I can remember. (Or is it Native American summer?)
I found myself in short sleeves barbecuing chicken on the back porch for dinner that year.
That doesn't seem seasonally appropriate.
So did I miss something? Like the news that the Earth is plummeting toward the sun?
That would have explain the freakishly warm temperatures, but not even former Veep Al Gore has gone there in my hearing.
After 2005 was named the hottest year in a century, people have to wonder: Is a green Christmas a trend that will continue in the future? In places that were formerly known as winter wonderlands?
If so, the word "anachronism" comes to mind.
All those references to "Frosty the Snowman" and "White Christmases," all those snow globe decorations and all those cards and wrapping papers showing winter scenes will in the future turn out not to reflect the real-world experience we have during the holiday season.
Palm trees will become more of a holiday icon than the whited out winter landscape.
It'll be like the line in the famous Christmas song about roasting chestnuts on an open fire, after the chestnut trees caught a disease and mostly died.
Sledding and skiing could become a thing of the past, too.
While still offered in stores now, sleds may become something we see only in museums.
No more icy forts, no more snow man building, no more frozen projectile fights.
Lots of people abhor winter. I always embraced it.
Some of the most fun I could have as a boy involved shooting down an icy hill at break-neck speeds, crashing and becoming lodged in a snowbank after schools unexpectedly closed due to the weather.
Now I can imagine a future in which children draw a blank whenever the concept of freezing precipitation comes up.
"Kids, when I was your age, rain that fell during the winter used to be called snow," we adults will have to explain. "It looked all small and white and starlike."
I hope not, but there may come a time when white Christmases will only occur in old movies and in our dreams.
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