Can't resist...sorry

I can't resist one more weather post.  I saw on the news about more record snow and cold in my old home state, which is about 1000 miles south of where I am now.  I envy my friends there getting off school and work for the weather.  I have not had one single "snow day" this entire school year.  Not one.  7 inches of snow is not enough to close anything here, though I have seen some events cancelled in the evening for extreme cold. 

I am enrolled in a 6 week course in watercolors that meets every Tuesday night.  Last Tuesday (the 2nd) it was 15 below when I was driving home from work at 5 pm.  I was concerned that at 8 pm, when the art class was due to be out, it would be too cold for my car to start, so I did not go.   Last night it was not that cold, so I went.  We waited and waited for the teacher, and when it seemed she wouldn't show, we decided to get out our supplies and just paint whatever we wanted to paint.  Finally, 30 minutes after class was supposed to start, the instructor called the on-duty student monitor in the art building and reported that her car just would not start, and we could paint whatever we wanted.  She didn't say it was due to the cold, but I'm sure that was a contributing factor. 

In this state, if you don't have an attached garage, you need to install a block heater in your car.  Then, when it's due to get cold, you plug it into an outlet overnight so your engine block stays reasonably warm, and the car will actually start.  Fortunately, I do have an attached garage, and my little car has always started, even without a block heater.  However, on the evening it was 15 below at 5 pm, it did grind kind of slowly!  I guess when we have electric cars, we will need 2 cords and 2 outlets. 

But, this is for cars.  For humans, cold is very subjective.  There is a faculty member in my department that grew up in the Persian Gulf area, and spent most of his adult life in Texas and Florida.  The poor guy turns blue in November and stays blue until April. 

My cousin, on the other hand, is more like me. She likes the cold! She spent most of her teenage years in Alaska.  She told me about one particular morning when she really did feel cold while standing outside waiting for the school bus.  She doesn't feel cold very often, but that morning she did.  She waited and waited for the bus, but it never came, so she went back inside.  The TV said that school had been cancelled due to extreme cold.  It was 50 below!  Makes 20 below seem balmy!