I am always amazed at different folks' appraisal of if the weather is too hot or too cold. I know people that can do hard labor outside in 100 degree heat and be perfectly happy. I used to mow my lawn in 100 degree heat. "Perfectly happy" was miles away from how I felt. I am completely opposite. In my former home, I was totally miserable from July 1 to Sept. 15. People would say "you'll get used to the heat." But I lived there for 57 years. When does the "get used to it" start to kick in? I would get dizzy and nauseous just going to the mail box.
Here, I am about 1000 miles further north. Summers are balmy and beautiful, but winters have brought a whole new definition of cold. Last Tuesday morning it was about 20 below zero when I went to work. I have a really good pair of gloves, padded and warm, but by the time I got to my office, my hands were nonetheless hurting from the cold - even though for much of the trip I was in my car. That's snot-freezing temperatures. In that extreme cold, I wear 2 wool scarves, one horizontal around my neck, nose, and mouth, and one verticle across the top of my head and ears. I look like a baby in swaddling clothes. And this is from a hot-natured person.
A friend from my old home town emailed me asking for some helpful tips for removing a 5 foot snow drift from the front of her car port so she could go somewhere. I said do as I do, get a snow shovel. I must shovel snow from my sidewalk on a regular basis so it doesn't get too deep, as we have snow about once a week here. Kind of like mowing the lawn, only cooler.
I must say, though, I have a good coat. Any part of my body that is under the coat is ALWAYS warm, regardless of the temperature or the wind. And that's saying a lot, because we can get a stiff wind here during the snow storms. A wind chill of 40 below is not unusual. White-out conditions on the highways happen quite frequently, sometimes once a week. But it doesn't make the news when it happens to us.
But, I still love it here! I would much rather shovel snow at 10 below than mow the lawn at 100 above!!!!!
I was born to live here. It just took me 57 years to figure it out!
"snot-freezing temperatures" had my rolling on the floor!
ReplyDeleteDown here in Sooner Land we were pretty much shut down for a week (and every went into a panic when we got a little dusting of dry snow yesterday). Three hundred miles north (where my ex lives) they got twice as much snow but since that's a regular thing with them they have the equipment to handle it and missed only one day. And up there you're going to work when it's 20 below. 20 freakin' degrees below zero. Fahrenheit.
Give me those Southern summers - and an extra week off every winter - any day!