It’s cold. And when I say cold, I don’t mean kinda cold. I mean COLD!
Depending on where you live, you might be laughing at the schmucks like me that live in a cold weather country. I have a friend that lives in Florida, actually a few friends in Florida, but one in particular that loves to bring up her wonderful weather everything we speak on the phone. It’s fun banter, but of course, I never hear from her when hurricanes visit their fine, warm state.
The west is getting hit with a cold patch that is breaking records, and I don’t mean the old vinyl type either. From what I read, the Northeast is feeling it as well. It’s even cold in California, which is where my in-laws are from, and they always consider below 50 to be frigid. Sadly they lost their lemon and orange trees this year. I actually enjoy winter and love to play in the snow. My kids love it typically too, but when it is this cold, fun outside is all of 20 minutes these days. “Dad, I’m done playing outside now…I can’t feel my hands or ears.”
Driving to work these last couple of days has reminded me of just how bitter cold it is. I get out and dutifully scrape the windows on my truck like the good sharer of the road I am. I travel all of one block and the windshield has completely frozen over again. I hate wasting the gas to idle a vehicle long enough that it can defrost the windows from the inside, but these last couple of days it is either that or joins the hunched-over-looking-through-the-bottom-of-the-windshield characters risking their lives for a few minutes delay.
I kid about the global warming thing, so no nasty comments about that, ok? I actually studied biology in college and have pretty good earth-friendly habits and opinions. Though there is plenty of debate on whether global warming is a reality or not, there is no doubt that our throwaway society is wreaking havoc on the planet – but that is another topic for another day.
This cold would be more pleasant to withstand if it came with more snow. More snow? Some think I am crazy, but we could use the snow to store up against droughts, which we have experienced in recent years. I live in Utah, with the greatest snow on earth, so our state slogan claims. Well, I have it on very good authority that the claim is nothing but the truth. I have a friend that owns a ski school in Finland, often skiis with the Olympic team and has hit the slopes in all of Europe and much of the US. On her recent trip to Utah she hit numerous resorts here and told me emphatically that yes, it is the greatest snow on earth. So there.
This too shall pass, and I have gained some patience in my advancing years. But, did I mention, IT’S REALLY COLD!