Happy New Year 2010

You are all aware of the hoopla in New York City's Time Square every year on December 31st. The celebration with a falling crystal ball has been a tradition that began in 1907 with the exception of the years 1942 & 1943 due to World War II. In 1928, it began to be broadcast by radio waves. Before his stroke, the eternally young Dick Clark hosted the televised broadcast, but now the ever present Ryan Seacrest hosts. It has experienced many transformations from a wood and iron 700 pound monstrosity to a Waterford crystal ball. It is, by far, the most known American way to celebrate New Year's Eve.

Well here in the South, we like to be different. If you haven't been following this blog, you might want to read some of the older posts to prove to yourself just how different we like to be. No, we don't drop an iron and wood ball. We don't commission Waterford to craft us a ball. No we drop something else entirely. We drop a peach. Not a real peach, mind you. No, our peach is made out of fiberglass & foam and weighs in at 800 pounds. The first Peach Drop took place in 1989 at Underground Atlanta. What's the use of all this information? Not much. Just wanted you to know. New York has its Waterford and we got our Peach. We just like to be different!

Happy 2010 Y'all!!!

MERRY

CHRISTMAS

Y'ALL

Snowin' in the Kudzu

In Birmingham, there is one man that you can trust for you weather forecasts. It isn't that the others are unreliable, they are actually very good. It is that Mr. James Spann is that good! When James mentions the 'S' word, Alabamians storm the grocery stores for bread and milk. For those of you wondering the 'S' word does NOT stand for a swear word, but for snow. We have to whisper it here in the South or you won't find a gallon (or half gallon for that matter) of milk in any grocery or convenience store.

In the Deep South, we literally loose our minds when snow is predicted! Words like flurries or dusting automatically become translated to mean blizzard. You think I'm exaggerating, but I'm not. It doesn't matter to us that it's actually ice that causes road problems. We will shut down schools, churchs & the court system for less than two inches of that white stuff. Birmingham is not a small town. Lots of people on the roads here. But we only have one, yes I said one, salt truck. I have seen evidence of sand when the temps drop below freezing, but don't know how it actually gets there.

The last two winters we had snow on Saturdays. This is a big deal since snow hasn't been seen here in several years. On those two weekends, local news broke into every broadcast. What did I see? Snow. People playing in snow. Children building snowmen out of 2-3 inches of snow. Southern accents explaining how excited they were to have snow. Every channel, with the exception of the cable channels, was covering the 'groundbreaking' snow fall!

I'm filling you in on the Southern mindset when it comes to snow, because this most trustworthy of meteorologists, James Spann, believes that there is a chance of snow at Christmas. Now, those of you reading from the northern states who think that this means nothing, take note. It is not unusual to have temperatures in the 70's or 80's on Christmas day. Some enterprising soul finally switched from Christmas sweaters to Christmas T-shirts and has made a killing in the Deep South! Rarely do I get to wear those sweaters & sweatshirts here in Birmingham. That may be different this year! We get excited when it's cool for Christmas. Snow on Christmas, here, may never happen again in my lifetime. Enjoy it fellow Southerners! And try to ignore us, you Yanks! Remember, snow makes us children again!