THE NORTHER

Sometime between the evening of October 17th and the morning of October 18th the first legitimate norther arrived in Brownsville. Rain precipitated the norther and the winds gradually gathered strength as the palm trees began to sway more dramatically. The temperature eventually plummeted to the low fifties.

Summer is over!

That doesn't mean the sun will not reassert itself because it is the god that reigns supreme, but after six months of summer we will commence six months of spring. The Winter Texans and the Snowbirds will flock to the RGV from their cold climes.

What distinguishes a Winter Texan from a Snowbird or are they synonyms for each other? I found the answer sitting at the Cobbleheads bar chatting with an elder gentleman who identified himself as a Winter Texan and explained the difference between himself and a Snowbird.

"A Winter Texan owns property in this area while a Snowbird doesn't," he said. Eighty years old and from Minnesota with his wife at his side and both of them downing several drinks, he said that they would stay until the end of April.

"When I left home a few days ago, it was 35 degrees. I've enjoyed a long life, but I have never enjoyed a long winter once my bones began to stiffen on me."

I'm sitting in my room with the blinds open to the gray skies. Once the norther blows through we relish our finest days. There is no humidity and the thermometer hovers in the high seventies to the low eighties. While we natives pull out our leather jackets from that look like new but were purchased 20 years ago, the Winter Texans and Snowbirds strut around town in short sleeves and shorts.

While he complains that the cold affects him physically, the heat has the opposite affect on me. I don't miss the summer. It's worse than company that has overstayed their welcome.