It’s an old thermometer. One of those that has a red thread of mercury that climbs or descends against numbers. It’s probably 35 or 40 years old; I don’t know when I bought it. I nailed it against the side of the cabin in the shade, where I figured it would accurately tell me the temperature no matter what the season. And it has done that. I’ve read minus 20 on that old thermometer a time or two when the winters seemed colder than they are now. Never saw minus 40 though; I remembered those temperatures when I was a kid.
On Memorial Day, just a few days ago, that old thermometer reported a temperature I’ve not seen on it before. It said 100 degrees. I told my brother, Donald, who lives a quarter mile from my place what my thermometer reported.
“Can’t be right. That old thermometer is way off. I checked my thermometer and it only read 97 degrees.” He laughed when he said it. He’s got a fancy digital thermometer that displays the temperature on a little screen.
I checked my thermometer about 2:00 p.m. on Memorial Day when it hit 100. I checked that old thermometer the same time today, which is not quite a week later—62 degrees. That’s a 38-degree difference. Talk about a temperature swing. On Memorial Day I was looking for a shady place to sit. Today I’m looking for a jacket.
The Old Timer Says: Without a thermometer, some of us old timers wouldn’t have anything to talk about.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: My writing class at The Clearing in Door County is scheduled: Friday, July 27, 9-4. Call 920-854-4088 to register.
Purchase Jerry’s signed DVDs and books from the Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fundraiser for them):
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
Phone: 920-622-3835
DVDs: His latest Public TV show, One-Room Country School is now available. It’s based on his book, One-Room Country Schools (also available).
Emmy Winner, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps (based on The Quiet Season book.)
Jerry Apps a Farm Story (based on Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old Farm books.)
The Land with Jerry Apps, (based on the book Whispers and Shadows,)
Never Curse the Rain, (based on his book with the same title)
The library has several of Jerry’s signed books for sale including Jerry’s newest nonfiction books, Once a Professor, Every Farm Tells a Story, Living a County Year (reprints), One-Room Country Schools, Never Curse the Rain and Old Farm Country Cookbook, and his novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. Also Wisconsin Agriculture: A History, Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guidebook for those who want to write their own stories.
Contact the library for prices and special package deals.
No comments:
Post a Comment