Real Winter is Finally Here (-39C or -38F)!

This morning was spent pushing my dead car out of the driveway where it had blocked in my husband's vehicle which was running. Once we had his car out the garage we realize that there was no way to get my car out of the middle of the ally. With all the snow on the driveway there was a significant hill my car needed to be pushed up to get it into the driveway. At this point we are outside in the freezing cold, blocking the ally with my dead car when husband decided he should 'push' my car with his. A totally ridiculous idea which totally worked. We put a patio chair cushion between the two vehicles and he accelerated while I navigated the dead car. It worked like a charm and I am sure we looked hilarious.

There are many kinds of winter. There is the cozy kind, there is the sloppy kind and then there is the kind of winter that causes real pain. We are now into the third kind of winter here at the north pole. This is the cold that actually hurts - and not after a few minutes; exposed flesh hurts instantly. We have invested in some very expense, very large, down-filled, winter parkas which have served us well for a few years. We assume will will be wearing these same parkas for the next 20 years.

I actually like the cold and have a fairly decent system for dealing with it. I have my 0 to -15 jacket, my -15 to -25 coat, and my -25 to -40 parka. It only becomes problematic when I don't listen to the forecast and wear the wrong one. This weekend is just barely in the -25 to -40 range, in fact as I type it is exactly -39 degrees (with wind). And for people who don't live at the northpole it may seem that the 'with windchill' caveat is mitigating - let me tell you, it is not. A '-39 with wind chill' feels much colder then a -35 without. If you doubt me you are more then welcome to visit and experience it for yourself.