1/17/07

Baby, it's cold outside - or is it?


Tri-O's Oddities, observations, and opinions
By Herb Kandel

Baby, it's cold outside - or is it?

When Johnny Carson hosted the Tonight Show he sometimes mentioned the weather in Los Angeles when it was unusual. He would start with , “It was very cold in L.A. today….” And before he continued the audience would shout out as one voice, “HOW COLD WAS IT?” Then Johnny would answer, "It was so cold today, a cab driver was saying something to a pedestrian and his middle finger froze."
I was reminded of this recently when my wife was complaining about the “freezing” weather and also something about having to walk the dogs, the combination of which leads to happy frisky walkees and an irritated chilled walker. And this was with temps in the mid 40’s!
“When I was a kid we would consider weather like this to be tropical. And what‘s more in the really frigid times we used to go fishing”, I said. “Sure”, she demurred with the hint of a smirk. “It’s true. Let me tell you.” And I continued:
It’s the dead of winter, bundled against cold and sometimes whipping cold weather wearing at least two of everything , what was later called “layering”, ……underwear, pants, sweaters socks, hats that rolled down to cover our ears,…..Sy and I went frost fishing. We were about 12 or 13. For this “fishing” all you needed was a burlap sack, papa’s boots stuffed with newspaper both for isolation and to fill the space for our smaller feet , and gloves (those brown cotton ones, we wore 2 pair of them also) that usually got soaked in short order. We would walk along the shore line on the Rockaway Beach peninsula in New York and pick up the “frost” fish ( I learned later they are called whitings or silver hake) which had been tossed onto the beach by the surf . They would be flash frozen. Most were stiff but many were still wriggling trying to get back to the ocean on the next wave when we picked them up. The moon reflected off their silver bellies and it was a beautiful sight to see the flashing shimmering light of this manna from the sea - almost like the brilliance of fireflies on summer nights. On moonless nights we used flash lights to reveal the silver of the beached fish. We had to time it so that we had a full 40 -50 lb. sack when we returned to our starting point. When there were other frost fishers on the shore it was a competition to see who got to the fish first. If I concentrate I can still feel the sting of frigid air with each inhalation and see the heavy smoke on exhale.
After we lugged our bounty home our mothers’ cleaned what our family was to eat, there were no freezers at that time (in fact a wooden crate from the “fruit store”, with a shelf in the center that formerly held oranges, was nailed to the outside of the kitchen window and freezing temperatures would keep frozen whatever was put in it during the cold months). The ice box was just that. The majority of the fish we sold by going door to door in the neighborhood for 5 cents, and 10 cents for the larger ones. We always liked to go fishing Thursday night so we could sell the fish to our Catholic neighbors for their Friday suppers. Many depended on us for those fresh beauties and the affordable price.
During the war years, WW2, the beach was patrolled by the Coast Guard so that no spy could signal Nazi U-boats which were thought to be off the Atlantic coast. Naturally Sy and I sneaked onto the beach, no war was going to keep us off our appointed frost fishing grounds. We went on moonless nights too (after all we had the acute vision of the young). “Fishing” was usually great but on several occasions the Coast Guard patrol picked us up and transported us in their Jeep back to the boardwalk where we started, with an admonition to go home and not to do it again. We were fortunate in that it was different patrol guards that picked us up on our subsequent fishing expeditions.
Frost fishing today is a thing of the past, as I understand, as the commercial fishing fleets have so depopulated the ocean of these species and they no longer feed close to shore where the waves can toss them onto the beach.
After relating this to my wife she is still of the mind that 1. It is still “freezing” outside. 2. The dogs still have to be walked. AND 3. “Because you were foolish enough to suffer the cold voluntarily doesn't mean I have to …..and besides there are no fish on the route we take.”
END