It's Winter!

Until today, we have had a relatively mild fall.  Last week, however, it started being chilly (highs in the 30s) and people started wearing warm jackets.  However, it was not yet time for the winter coat. 

But this morning when I fetched my paper the temperature was 9.  I decided it was time for Big Purple.  I have named my winter coat Big Purple because, well, it's big and purple.  With Big Purple comes the ski gloves and the wool scarves. 

Winter is both a friend and enemy here.  It's a friend because it is severe enough to kill all chiggers, cockroaches and termites that may have wandered in from other areas over the summer.  It's an enemy if it snows so much that my car gets stuck in the snow 20 feet from my driveway.  Can't wait for the sun to melt the snow, because that could be months. I have to call a tow truck.  Very embarrassing!

This is certainly different from my former home, in which Big Purple sometimes stayed in the closet all winter, as the folks there consider 40 degrees and drizzle to be "cold".  Nuts!  I now know what cold it.  It's not 40 degrees or 30 degrees or even 20 degrees.  It's 20 below.  Actually, I think there should be another word for the cold-below-cold that we get here. 

I was watching a documentary about WWII and was reminded of the Winter that Russia has.  I capitalized Winter because their winter is more "winter" even than our winter.  The only people who do well in a Russian winter is a Russian.  This is something that both Hitler and Napolean found out when their summer offenses into Russia became bogged down and turned into winter offenses.  They both went home with only a small fraction of their armies.  Many of those soldiers were not killed in battle, but died from the Russian Winter.  In that case, Winter was Russia's not-so-secret weapon. 

In the documentary, one of the things that was pointed out was that the best kind of winter coat is not a wool coat, but a quilted one.  The Russians had quilted coats, but the Germans had wool.  Russians know Winter.

And, as luck would have it, Big Purple is quilted.  I got it about 30 years ago, and it's still going strong.  Any part of my anatomy that is under Big Purple is warm, regardless of temperature or wind chill. I have shoveled snow in 15 below weather while wearing Big Purple and actually started perspiring.   Winter?  I'm ready!