Just had a quick peep at the weather forecast using CNN for Malaga to see if it is safe to hang my smalls out to dry overnight and I can vouch for the fact that today (8th Nov) it is 22C (71F) and sunny (feels warmer) with an expected low of 11C (51F). Nothing unusual there I suppose, but wait .....tomorrow, it dips to 14C (58F) and what's this!!?? The low forecast is 0C, or 32F, which I vaguely remember as being freezing point!!

Ski-ing anyone? We appear to be the lucky ones over the next few days, as I see in Madrid they are forecasting -6C, that's 22F!!! I was only joking to Wolf that I lived in Russia the other day

Anchovy,

Wow! Cold by standards for your neck of the woods. Warm by standards, where CaliBasco and I are from. Those "balmy" 27 degree F days to us, in the winter, are a good reason to go out in da sun and get a tan ya know.

I can remember, as a kid, back in da old days, about da middle of dat century gone past, it'd get so cold dat when you spoke nobody could hear da words until dey thawed out in da spring wit da warm wedder.

Well, gotta go out and milk da brown cow and get some chocolate milk. May da outhouse hole be warmed to da touch before you arrive to do your business....

Wolf (Who ain't warmin' nothin' for no one... )

Sounds like that is one hell of a sore red nose, Wolf You haven't been for a job interview with a certain Mr S Claus have you? I've heard he wants a bit of muscle to help him out with his deliveries next month

By the way, just looked at forecast for Granada (city, not ski resort) for tomorrow and anyone visiting the Alhambra would be well advised to get their wooly vests out, because we are looking at a low of -9, which is about 22F on the funny temperature scale you use on your side of the (frozen) pond.

Anchovy (After fifteen years, only just coming to terms with metric measures and Centigrade)

Ya betcha Wolf. Why don I put on da briquets for da barbecue...den we can eat da brats while we're sittin by da pool...geeesh it's hot out here! Maybe after we get done eatin' we can go fishin' in da boat. 27º...geesh, sure has warmed up a bit, don'cha know.

Gentlemen,
Have any of you heard if this winter is going to be particularly cold in Madrid and Northern Spain by any chance? I'm particularly interested in December weather.

I know we are going to have a rough winter here in North Florida because the squirrels are going berserk hidding nuts, and downing pine cones, plus the wooly worms look particularly fat this year!

Anchovy

You could be nearer the truth than you think with Wolf and his connection with Mr Claus - I'm POSITIVE I remember something about him and gnomes???? I KNEW the relevance would be revealed sometime.

Jo

Booklady, do you do freelance work for CNN's weather forecasting service for Spain? The reason I ask, is that today they have us down for below zero.

I have come in to work wearing full ski gear, apart from the goggles and the poles, the sun is shining and although there is a cooler wind, I have to say that a lot of people are in shirt sleeves and I am being ridiculed by all and sundry

Jo, gnom-e diga! (sorry, but rgf has got us all thinking about puns again). Wolf and gnomes, you say? So you also think Lapland is gnome from gnome for him?

Jo-Anne,

Very astute! I did mention gnomes a long time ago, in a link so far removed that I even forgot it... My wife has created a monster in Spain... she gave people gnomes as gifts, and now the women are clamoring for them. In fact, we will be sending out a package next week, which contains seven gnomes signed by Dr. Tom Clark, as Christmas presents to friends.

Anchovy, be encouraged by the fact that no matter how cold it gets there, it will never get as cold as it does here, during the winter. Right now we're looking forward to fighting ice, snow, and cold winds for the next five or six months, and that ain't no treat. Especially when you know you have to buy a new snow blower because the old one pooped out...

Wolf (Who's inspecting his long underwear later today, to insure the trap doors work properly... )

Anchovy,
Wow! Have you noticed any increased activity among the squirrels in your neighborhood? How about the wooly worms, do they look a little fatter than usual? If so, Anchochy, please take out your long johns 'cause it's going to be a long cold winter!

booklady - Never worked for CNN!Honest!

Enlighten me please - what in the world are "smalls" - as in "hang-out my smalls"? Am I correct in assuming said smalls are different from the warm weather latex mentioned in previous threads ....

AF - are you really sure you want to skate on Frog Pond again???

Ah - the differences between English and American ....

Yes Puna, one's smalls are very different from the latex stuff mentioned in another thread and also the pedal pusher type things - can't remember the name now - which took up a lot of lines on this board in the summer!

I think the best person to ask is Jo-Anne, because a friend of hers in her village spent his entire life trying to catch a glimpse of another villager's smalls Just ask her about Norah Batty

Just to put the record straight here, Puna, I have to say that me trying to ice skate would be to imagine a teetotal Wolf playing cricket, then croquet and afterwards nibbling cucumber sandwiches (with crusts taken off) and then accompanying Andrew Lloyd-Webber to the opera. (A vision just came into my mind that when we do finally meet Wolf, he will be just like Frasier Crane's brother Nials.... How bizarre!) Anyway, I'm rambling... it was Mrs Anchovy who skated on Frog Pond to a background of classical music, while I sipped me hot chocolate, content to watch and admire the beautiful scene in front of my eyes. Ahh, what a place. People of the board... forget Spain....GO TO BOSTON!! It's great!!

By the way, to link up with this thread again, we are freezing our derrieres off here again with storm warnings and snow on the way!!! Hope it blows over by the time you get to Madrid, MM!!!

Oh, and Booklady, you are getting me some very strange looks when I ask people if they have checked their wooly worms and if there seems to be more stored nuts lying around this year!

[ 11-15-2001: Message edited by: Anchovy Front ]

Anchovy,

Niles? My Gawd! What a horrible thought! If I was like that little wimp I would have went in and had myself fixed so I couldn't reproduce...

I'm more like Niles & Frazier's Father. He's the one who has class...

But, I do like cucumber sandwiches on Jewish rye, and wouldn't mind attending a concert with Andrew Lloyd-Webber. He's done some great stuff, and anyway, even if I slept through half the concert, it would be afterwards, when the party started, that I'd be in my native environment...

Cricket? I watched it on TV a couple of times. It worked perfect for me. I fell asleep within ten minutes both times, and got in a good nap. When I woke up, hours later, they were still right where they were in the game... as if nothing had happened...

Wolf (Who doesn't have many ballerina steps left in him either...)

[ 11-15-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

Don't forget, though Wolf, Niles did get the lovely Daphne ! But don't worry, I had you worked out as Martin Crane a long time ago! Or was it Eddie ...... his dog, I mean, not our own wonderful MadridMan Eddie, who can be seen in glorious colo(u)r with girls and Guinness on another thread I saw yesterday! (Nice one Eddie! Love the photos)

Clinging to this thread, in the vain hope that MM doesn't kick us off for digressing on a cold and slow day, check out the latest forecast for Madrid... http://eltiempo.ole.es/prevision/SP/Madridf.html As you can see, it's getting warmer

[ 11-15-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

OK - AF's lovely wife will teach him to ice skate (or is prop up and drag a better discription?), Wolf will join us and out-skate us all and Jo-Anne will bring her daughter and we can all play in the snow in Spain! The heck to Boston!

And I still want to know what smalls are - anyone????

Puna, in Spanish they are called "paños menores". Do you know it now or do I have to say it out loud ? Tia

:o :o :o Ooops.
thanks Tia!

Heya Wolf & CB-

Jus' wanted ta letcha know we're breakin' out da barbecue fer Tanksgivin' again dis year. Put tha bird out jus' befer kickoff of da Lions game, check on it at halftime, then agin jus befer da Cowboys' game, then pull it in at halftime a dat game. Also, dem Illini is playin on Turkey day, too! Only ting is, its so warm 'round here, fer the season 'n all. I mean, it'll be in the 40's (f) on Tanksgivin, fer cryinoutloud. Makes it feel like da Fourth 'o' July, dontcha know...

Hey der Kurt!

You got one o dem six legged birds like ol John Madden got for da feast? Dos are hard to find ya know. Only der yoopers got dem from what I been told. You gotta smuggle dem out o der neck o da woods cuz dey don' like people noing dey got da nuklear dumps in da back yard, an da birds are pre-cooked by da radiation.

Ol Cali an I wood be by to eat mit you but der ain't no snow to run da snowmobiles on, an we can't be goin over da roads wit dem.

Anyway, my wife's birtday is da Monday followin' an I promised her we'd take an extra bath dis winter if we kin knock da ice off da big tub. She says we may as well do it in da water after she uses it ta pluck da pin feathers of da bird before she cook it.

You guys in da big city got all da convenience. I hear your outhouse even in da house, an Olie tol' me you don' keep no Sears catalogs in da danged room. Goodness! You must be sufferin' sum.

Da wedder is getting colder dis week from what I been told. Now in dat place wear ol' Anchovy (da fishy guy) lives, dey won't even have out da long handles by den.

I jus' been listenin to da radio. I heard dat big hit song by Der Yoopers, "Turdy point Buck!", an it done put tears in my eyes. Is one of der more romantic tunes, aside from da best, "Grandma got ran over by a reindeer."

Well, gotta go slop da hogs, an milk da cows. Dose jobs never get down since ol' Granny got da gout, an sits aroun all day doin' nuttin,

Now you keep da shiny side of dat rusty Chevrolet you drive up til turkey day. We don' need no trips to da vet to get you fixed up!

Wolf (Who's beginning to realize that most of us midwesterners are either insane, or at least passing by on the four lane highway, near the nut houses.)

Yo Kurt and Wolf, dere. Ovur da weeken I was up in dem dere Searz and Hancock Towers an got me a good view of dat' dere Soldier Field and United Center. Had me a good time in da city uh big shoulders. Jeez, you'd tink Michael was still playing for da bullz er someting. Did da Navy Pier, Da Field Museum, da Institute of Art of Chicaaago, and had me a good ol' time. And da best yet waz dat BOFE uh da Miss Teen Illinoiz AND Miss Illinoiz pageants were held in MY hotel ovr da weeken. Woo Hoo!! :p :o :p

And wat great weather! No need for choppin' logs fer heat, but a fog screen might have been uzeful on Saturday.

[ 11-19-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

Geez, MadridMan!

You missed da tour of da stock yards? Da number one show in da windy city? Nuttin better dan gettin in der among dem sweet smellin cattle ta clear da sinus cavity.

In da ol days you could have a good steak nearly off da hoof an in warm wedder (notice I stuck to the weather theme of this link - ) youz could share yer food wit da flys which weighed about a pound or so each. It was one of da places dat really stood out in da city. You didn't need no stinkin map to get der. You jus follow your nose.

You did da Sears an Hancock. Geez! You waz so close to da creator you could see dem pearly gates and St. Peter. If ya look north from dere, you can nearly see ol Jake driving da logging truck up near da sawmill in da ooper peninsula, an dem 10,000 pot holes in Minnesoter dat dey call lakes.

Geez! Sounds like you had a super time. Did you try out dere indoor outhouse while you were dere? I heard dey got some wit more holes in dem dan dey do at da logging camp where ol Jake works.

Willikers! Two pageants in one weekend! Reminds me of da county fair when dey judge da cows & sows seperately. Was it someting like dat? Musta been quite a show wit dose pink ribbons roun' dere necks an all.

Did'ja go back to da sticks by stagecoach, horse-back, or one of dem fancy new contraptions wit an engine in it?

Wolf (Welcoming MadridMan to the asylum - )

If you guys listen to Garrison Keillor I'm gonna have to find myself another bulletin board, dontcha know.

Tara (And Wolf...the potholes are IN ADDITION to the lakes out here in the state of just two seasons--winter and road construction. I counted as I listened for my hub caps to be knocked off in deep ones this spring. Someone could do a brisk business out here, replacing hub caps.)

Tara,

Dem pot holes are sumpin else der. I seen whole logging trucks disappear into dem, an never be seen again. I caught me a whole mess of walleyes in o dem o'er near Stillwater one time.

I always taut dat da only two seasons in Minnesoter, nordern Wisconsin, and da yooper peninsula of Michigan were da 4th of July an winter. Goes to show ya. I fergot about dat road construction season.

Wolf (Who actually did enjoy some of Keillor, but not as a steady diet. I prefer "What do You Know?" on Wisconsin Public Radio... )

[ 11-19-2001: Message edited by: Wolf ]

O dear, oh dear..... What has happened to the standard of English on this board? The spelling has fallen apart and my old teacher would have called it attroshus, atroci.... er ...terrible, I mean. Did you people all work on the movie Deliverance? Do you play a banjo, Wolf?

Anchovy,

Not much in-breeding in northern Wisconsin. Not too many young people stuck around after they graduated from high school to breed.

I'm always reminded of a guy who was two years ahead of me in high school, who went to the big city (Milwaukee - ), and came back telling us that the young ladies there actually shaved under their arms, and their legs! He just couldn't believe it!

Of course, his family wasn't exactly at the top of the "Who's who" in town. His three sisters all looked like they should have been named George, Ralph, and Herman, not April, May, and June, like they were...

Gawd! Could you imagine what would have happened if two of those girls had been born in the same month?

I do remember one guy I went to school with, he joined the Navy within a week after graduating from high school - spent four years traveling with them, went home, got a job in a saw mill, and has worked there ever since. His furthest journey away from the area since he got home (41 years ago), has not exceeded 60 miles. As for what he recalls about being in the Navy, he told me once that he would actually "refuse to take shore liberty" in foreign countries. He never saw anything, and didn't step on foreign shores. In fact, I get the impression he thought that California was a foreign land...

So much for the geographical/history lesson for today...


As for the weather (getting back to the topic just in time, phewwww!!!!, it can get pretty darned cold up there. In fact, on the coldest night in the area's recorded history (back in the 70s, it got down to -72 degrees Farenheit), I ended up walking over 7 miles through the woods, when my car broke down away from civilization. By road, it was a 15 mile walk, or more, and there weren't any homes along the route, and no automobile traffic. I was lucky. I could have died in those woods.)

Wolf (Who doesn't take short-cuts in the winter, and avoids going to northern Wisconsin when it's cold outside!)

Wolf - Is it possibly time to abandon Wisconsin and retire to Spain? No matter how much snow Anchovy sees on the hills behind Estepona - it's gotta be less than what you see every winter. It was your reference to -72 F ... ****** - how awful!

Puna (who is cold when it gets below 75 F)

[ 11-20-2001: Message edited by: Puna ]

Wolf, I am right there with you listening to Michael Feldman. My husband always says that we need to make it over to WI for a taping, because he wants to read the quiz instructions on the air.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving lutefisk and lefse!
Tara

Tara,

My wife and I listen to Feldman every Saturday. I've been up to the show twice, and haven't been tapped yet for any of the on-air hijinx, but I keep hoping.....

The funny part of it is, I know about 75% to 80% of the answers to the quizzes... Now ain't that a kicker?

Our last trip up we nearly got snowed in. It took us over three hours to get home (normally a 1 1/4 hr drive) to Rockford. (He-he my "weather" inference)

The show is fantastic. He keeps everyone entertained even between segments. He's a tremendous host for a show like that. I've listened to it all over the U.S., since it seems to be a 10 AM central time staple Saturdays everywhere...

Wolf

Ya Ancho-vee, we don'ave any problum wit'da Sowth, but we don'ave nunna dat deliv'runce stuff eeder. Al dat purty mouth is fer Arkansas, not the Northland. I dunno anyone named Billy Bob, but me an my pal Ole wer talkin' abowt dis jus de udder day, don'cha know?

An hey Kurt, you go right ahead and do da barbecue, I'll be cuttin a hole in da ice lookin for lunch. Da Lions aren't worth the time spent, and there's fish ta be had. I'll be sittin in my shanty on Mille Lacs givin' my potato lefse a workover with my purly whites. Then we'll have what we always have for da holidays: Hot dish and brats. Umm.

Happy Tanksgivin to all of ya.

Yuz Minnesoter guys got da gall to eat da brats on Tanksgivin. Dat's turkey day ya know? Da brats are for da tail gatin, an stuff like dat. An for special events like da weddings at da bowling alley.

In our neck o da woods da turkey an da venison is da real deal on Turdsday comin.

An Ole tol me da udder day dat he got one o dem new fangled TV gadgets which ya jus use da battery wit, an can watch da Packers dump da Lions into Canada wit.

I don go ice fishin no more. By da time I cut a hole in da ice big enough for da boat, I'm all tuckered out, and need a nap.

U'z right about us not bein like dem southern folk. Dey don't have da class we does. We got better english an stuff, ain't it so?

Do you know how you can tell which guy is the Groom at a Wisconsin wedding?

Ans.: He's the guy with the clean bowling shirt on.

Wolf (Whose gonna end up talkin like dis if he ain't careful.... Damn! I already do... )

Okay, guys, this New Jersey-born, North Florida-raised, Minnesota-educated girl is losing it. Just what accent am I supposed to be able to understand here?

And my heart goes out to los españoles on the board...most of whom probably can't understand this! Of course, one would hope they won't try too hard, either!

The Minnesota expression I like best (I don't know if they do it in Wisconsin or the U.P.) is "Oh, for cute!" about kittens and 4-year-old girls with pigtails.

At this point, my Long Island transplant parents (who've lived in Florida for 20 years) say that I sound like a Minnesotan. My Minnesota friends say that I sound like a Southerner. My Long Island cousins can't understand anything I say, and I can't understand them either. I say "y'all" and "you guys" interchangeably.

And my kid calls small injuries "owies" and soda "pop," which I swore would never happen.

I wonder how easy/hard it is for our Spanish friends to pick out these differences among American accents/dialects? I can't tell the difference between Spanish regional dialects at all, though I notice that the "theta/zeta" is very pronounced in Castilla y Leon.

Enough babbling...back to work for me!
Tara

Tara,

It's an interesting mixture that came out of several European languages, where people learned English, without actually being taught the language. A movie, that actually exploited the effect was "Fargo." It's really something that exists. A total butchering of English I'm afraid.

A couple of things. First, we didn't use "soda" when I was a kid. We called it "pop." Where my wife comes from, in Southern Indiana, it was called, "Sodie pop."

We couldn't even have one together for over two months until we figured out what the hell the other one was talking about -

"I'm going to get a pop!" It meant I was going for a soda....

You guys is actually run together...... youzguys.... gotta get that "z" in there.

Yes, "owies" are small wounds. Also called "boo boos."

Any statement made, where a person is asking the person they are talking to for confirmation ends with.... "Don't'cha know?"
It also slips in when a person is emphasizing something... kind of like... "Just like I should have expected!"

Adding to this, another one related to it, "Ain't it so Ivy?" or "Ain't it so Tara?"

Another one.. "What did you do last night?" comes out as one word; "Wudges do last night?" or "Wudgesguysdolasnight?" Letters left off, and all run together.

The butchering gets worse in some areas of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where they add a Finnish flavor to the whole thing. It really goes beyond what Frances McDormand was saying in Fargo. Far beyond that, making the language they used in the movie almost normal by the added changes.

It's a language of its own. Really "woodsy." I guess that's why they call people like me, who grew up in Northern Wisconsin, "jack pine savages." We ain't never been learnt the right way to talk...

Wolf (Who's getting out his newest bowling shirt for Thanksgiving dinner... , even if it does have a wine stain on the front!)

Ya fer sher ya bet'cha. Don ferget da werd "ish" ta describe all da yucky stuff.

And taravb: When you pronounce words like "out" and "boat" you should strive to overenunciate the "o" kind of like an "owh", using the bottom of your throat. Just watch Fargo...den you can go ouwht in da bouwht and do sum fishin' like da udder Minnesodans or perhaps you wanta do eat sum cheez like da Wisconsonians. You be da judge. Like the old poet guy Paul Bunyan said, "you are da master of yer fate, yo are da captain of yer souwhl, don'cha know?"

Happy tanksgivin t'allayuh, and go Lions, beat da Packers!

Hey der Cali!

What's wit da Lions ting? Da Packers gonna whup up on dem city boys. Final score; Stump Jumpers 27, doz Lions 10 or so.

To allz youzguys out dere, have da best of turkey day, an don' be drinkin too much dandelion wine. Der's lotsa udder tings to drink ya know. Like dat der English stuff, Iced tea ( :)), and pop.

I be tinkin bout you guyz out der on da coast when I cut inta da big venison roast we be having wit da turkey an ham. Kinda like a smorgasbord, don't'cha know?

Wolf (Who has stocked up on every conceivable heartburn and indigestion remedy known to mankind, for his belt buster meal, which includes four kinds of pie, the meats, dressing, mashed potatoes w/gravy, peas, carrots, corn on da cob, shrimp cocktail, candied yams, home made bread, home made buns, Tourtieres (French meat pie), jello, ice cream, jello salad, red cabbage, deviled eggs, coffee, milk, pop for the kids, and a nice hot apple cider spiked with rum. Needless to say, there will be over thirty people at our house to help us put it all away... - I may even recover by Christmas, when we have a Really big meal!!!!!!

Wolf and co ........ ENJOOOOOYYYY!!!!!

By eck!



Jo

Anchovy,
How's the weather in Estepona? It's unseasonably hot here in Florida, I think perhaps the squirrels and wooly worms have let me down this year.

I'll be in Spain in three weeks(Castilla, Sevilla & Galicia), and was wondering what to bring for outerwear, my Nanook of the North (as La Maestra fondly describes) wear, my leather coat for North Florida winters,or my casual raincoat?

Awaiting your kind reply,

Booklady