Cold finally went to his head
Holstein cattlefeeder breaks tradition, dons a hat
By Tim Gallagher | Posted: Thursday, December 18, 2008
Boyd Meyer of Holstein, Iowa, is shown in front of the town sign that hails Washta as "The Coldest Spot in Iowa." Meyer, a cattlefeeder who used to pride himself on never wearing a hat, decided to wear one Monday after possibly freezing his left ear Sunday afternoon. (Photo by Tim Gallagher)
WASHTA, Iowa -- I met Boyd Meyer at lunch last January here in "The Coldest Spot in Iowa." He wasn't wearing a hat. Never does. Told me he never would. The temperature that day was around zero.
Washta claims Iowa's lowest temp at minus 47 degrees, recorded Jan. 12, 1912.
I called Meyer this week as we endured the season's first frigid blast. Got his wife, Lenore, up from her battle with the flu.
She laughed when I asked if Boyd had worn a hat this week.
"He did on Monday," she said. "He didn't wear one Sunday and got frostbite on his left ear. It was hurting when he got home Sunday and it was pretty swollen Monday morning, so he left here with a Denver Broncos hat. I don't know if he wore it just to please me or if he kept it on."
Many times, she said, she's warned Boyd about his hard-headed refusal to protect his melon. Boyd did not see a doctor for his ear.
Meyer, who lives in Holstein, worked in Sunday's gale-force winds preparing for a Tuesday livestock auction at Bleil & Chapman Livestock Auction south of Kingsley. According to Lenore, Boyd was out in the elements for several hours and didn't don a hat.
"A friend of his, Pete Renze of Arthur, has threatened to give him earmuffs," Lenore said.
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Dannie Zupp, the official thermometer watcher at Washta, said the mercury dropped to 14 below zero at 7 a.m. Wednesday. It's the chilliest reading he's recorded this season.
"That's as cold as I want to go, unless we break the record," Zupp said.
Of course, Wednesday's temp was still 33 degrees shy of the standard. (Between you, me and the frozen fence post, I hope we never eclipse Washta's claim to fame. Washta, you can have that record!)
Zupp received a 10-year certificate Nov. 18 from the National Weather Service. That's how long he's been recording temps in Washta.
"Ten years at 365 days per year is pretty good," said Zupp. "You know, I have to work every day."
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The water on West Lake Okoboji has been open through December four times since 1916. Not this year. Ed Thelen, a fisheries research technician with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources in Spirit Lake, said West Lake froze over Dec. 10.
"That's maybe just a little earlier than normal," he said.
The latest ever? Nine decades' worth of records show the latest date West Lake froze was Jan. 13, 2006. It stayed open until January in 1932, 1933 and 1967, too.
"The earliest its froze over was Nov. 29, 1955," Thelen said.
West Lake Okoboji, 136 feet deep at its deepest, is the deepest lake in Iowa.
East Lake Okoboji this season froze Nov. 21 and then opened in a warm streak. It froze again Dec. 7 and has remained frozen. Spirit Lake also froze Dec. 7.
"Most of the ice fishermen haven't ventured way out yet, but they are reporting 8 to 9 inches of ice," Thelen said.
Washta claims Iowa's lowest temp at minus 47 degrees, recorded Jan. 12, 1912.
I called Meyer this week as we endured the season's first frigid blast. Got his wife, Lenore, up from her battle with the flu.
She laughed when I asked if Boyd had worn a hat this week.
"He did on Monday," she said. "He didn't wear one Sunday and got frostbite on his left ear. It was hurting when he got home Sunday and it was pretty swollen Monday morning, so he left here with a Denver Broncos hat. I don't know if he wore it just to please me or if he kept it on."
Many times, she said, she's warned Boyd about his hard-headed refusal to protect his melon. Boyd did not see a doctor for his ear.
Meyer, who lives in Holstein, worked in Sunday's gale-force winds preparing for a Tuesday livestock auction at Bleil & Chapman Livestock Auction south of Kingsley. According to Lenore, Boyd was out in the elements for several hours and didn't don a hat.
"A friend of his, Pete Renze of Arthur, has threatened to give him earmuffs," Lenore said.
&&&
Dannie Zupp, the official thermometer watcher at Washta, said the mercury dropped to 14 below zero at 7 a.m. Wednesday. It's the chilliest reading he's recorded this season.
"That's as cold as I want to go, unless we break the record," Zupp said.
Of course, Wednesday's temp was still 33 degrees shy of the standard. (Between you, me and the frozen fence post, I hope we never eclipse Washta's claim to fame. Washta, you can have that record!)
Zupp received a 10-year certificate Nov. 18 from the National Weather Service. That's how long he's been recording temps in Washta.
"Ten years at 365 days per year is pretty good," said Zupp. "You know, I have to work every day."
&&&
The water on West Lake Okoboji has been open through December four times since 1916. Not this year. Ed Thelen, a fisheries research technician with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources in Spirit Lake, said West Lake froze over Dec. 10.
"That's maybe just a little earlier than normal," he said.
The latest ever? Nine decades' worth of records show the latest date West Lake froze was Jan. 13, 2006. It stayed open until January in 1932, 1933 and 1967, too.
"The earliest its froze over was Nov. 29, 1955," Thelen said.
West Lake Okoboji, 136 feet deep at its deepest, is the deepest lake in Iowa.
East Lake Okoboji this season froze Nov. 21 and then opened in a warm streak. It froze again Dec. 7 and has remained frozen. Spirit Lake also froze Dec. 7.
"Most of the ice fishermen haven't ventured way out yet, but they are reporting 8 to 9 inches of ice," Thelen said.
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