Aren’t you glad you’re in South Texas?

For those of you lucky enough to have found the Rio Grande Valley, I am sure you are happy to be here. Yes, we have our little cold snaps, but rarely any snow and maybe just a little bit of ice.

I saw the temps in our northern states where lows were in the negative teens, like Minneapolis had a low of -18 on Sunday night. I had relatives in Arkansas complaining about their snow and cold as well where the lows were about 15 degrees lower than South Texas lows for the weekend.

This is why I love Texas. Our cold snaps last a couple of days and then we get some sun again – most of the time. It gives us just enough cold to be even more thankful for the delightful weather that is around for most of our winter months.

I remember my dad used to prep a lot for these cold snaps. We lived in a mobile home that had a gas heater that we had to light the pilot light from outside – so that was a huge draw back if the winds got bad. But what made these cold snaps fun was when my dad would find somewhere to hang the hose to let the water run.

Sometimes he would hang it in the tree, or position it on the fence, or one year he let it spray out of the tree and onto our outdoor storage room’s roof. We ended up with huge icicles coming off that storage room the next morning. He would always make it to where we ended up with something fun and exciting to see when we woke up.

When I was about nine or so, we had a cold snap that left it cold enough I was able to stand on top of the frozen cow trough at my grandparents’ farm. They had to chop through a big layer of ice, so the cows had access to their water.

Anyway, I am sure you are happier here in the Valley than being elsewhere for now. I hope you stayed safe and warm and watched some good shows, played some cards, put together a puzzle, or something fun.

If you want to share some of your cold stories, or any other stories about what makes the Valley a great place to be, send it to me at news@wintertexantimes.com.