The weather

My husband loves to follow the weather on the internet. He takes particular joy is seeing the green mass (rain or precipitation is it?) blobbing across the map. He calls me in his office to watch it.

"I'll check Accuweather," he says when I tell him I am walking uptown with my friend to Farmer's Market.

"You don't really have to," I say sweetly. "I am going anyway. It looks like it might rain, I'll just take an umbrella."

"Wait a sec...c'mon in here and take a look at the doppler."

"I don't really want to look at it - I'm fine," I say a little less sweetly.

I figure if you want to know what the weather is, just step outside. Do I need a jacket? Gloves? Hat? Umbrella? It's not that difficult to figure out.

In recent conversations, I have discovered this may be a Venus-Mars thing. The women I have talked with cannot make out a thing on that map - other than green and blue going across in waves - and furthermore, it appears that we don't really care.

When I walk the dog in the morning, I usually see the same people, the same dogs and it is basically the same exchange - about the weather. I wonder if it is going to snow, I remark to my neighbor (male).

He says, "The snow is in Joliet right now - I checked the doppler."

Here's how I check the weather: we have a digital thermometer in our room with the outside temperature gauge. It's wonderful - I love it. If it is 20 or below, I wear my long underwear to walk the dog - if it is 21 or above, I don't. That's all I need to know.