Minnesot-ah: winter blah
February 12, 2010
I have said for a long time that winter is my favorite season. And this was after I moved to Minnesota. But this year, winter’s buggin’ me. Just take a look at my front yard.
I don’t know when I began actively liking winter. I remember enjoying snow as a kid in Ohio, especially that one year when there were snowdrifts up to the eaves and I burrowed out a snow cave in one of them. That was back in the days when parents still let their kids do stuff and didn’t freak out about safety or germs or whatever.
From Ohio, I went to Wisconsin, then to Minneapolis for a few years, back to a different part of Wisconsin, and then back to Minneapolis, where I’ve been since fall 1994 (my word, where does the time go?).
It must have been in the last ten years or so that I decided winter was my favorite. This probably coincides with aging and generally getting overheated more easily, so the summer heat became less appealing and easy cooling more so. I know it’s not because I adore winter sports such as ice fishing and snowmobiling.
A lot does go on during the Minnesota winter, as people try to embrace this thing that happens for half the year. St Paul has a perfectly nice Winter Carnival with activities such as an ice castle and medallion treasure hunt.
I think what’s annoying me this year is the below average temperatures that are keeping everything crusty. We haven’t had any more snow than usual, and certainly not even close to what has happened on the East Coast this year. But we have been suffering with those well-below-freezing temperatures. I’m sick of bundling up (though I’m quite fond of my sleeping bag-esque down coat that makes it more bearable by about 10°F; in other words, I can wait ten more degrees before I have to add the long underwear), I’m sick of slipping on icy patches created by 24-hour “warm-ups” followed by immediate freeze-downs, I’m sick of darkness, and I miss sitting on my front step for Home Happy Hour.
Summer, where are you?
Slippery when icy
January 22, 2010
Last week we had 48 hours of freezing drizzle. The first wave during the day on Thursday wasn’t so bad. The thin glaze that I had to chisel off my car to be able to drive it to bowling wasn’t too much of an inconvenience, all things considered. And it was a little tricky walking, but nothing too untoward.
Friday was a somewhat different story. The temperature was just above freezing during the daylight, so it was just an annoying steady drizzle. But in the space of a couple of hours in the evening that all changed. When I came outside after my evening activities of hanging out with friends at the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball game and refreshments afterwards, the world was glazed anew. This time it was downright treacherous and dangerous. While I was waiting to catch the train home, I lost count of how many people slipped and fell, thereby getting an embarrassing worm’s eye view of the world. But it was Friday night and because people were in booze-inspired good humor, everyone was pretty jovial and helpful. Said the transit cop to one fellow who took a particularly nasty spill, “Nice recovery. You got up just like Brett Favre.” Okay, so that’s American football humor about a 40-year-old quarterback who plays better than peers half his age and has superhuman abilities to come right back after hard hits. It was funny. When I got to my home neighborhood, though, it was no laughing matter. In about three places I had to take the long way in order to avoid even a slight grade in the sidewalk which would have been impossible to negotiate while remaining upright. Fortunately, the next day temperatures were once again above freezing and all’s well that ends well.Big deal, it snowed today
December 9, 2009
Today in Minnesota, we had our first consequential snowfall. It wasn’t significant in terms of inches (it looks like it was about one inch), but it certainly wrought havoc. I know it snows in Alaska in the summer. I know California is having their own unusually chilly weather. I know the UK is still trying to figure out how to build an ark. And apparently the American Southwest had snow yesterday and today and didn’t know what to do with it. (Did I forget anyone?) A few snowflakes shouldn’t faze us hardy Minnesotans. Nevertheless, every winter there is a period of adjustment. Heck, even a rain shower in the summer or a curve in the road throws traffic into chaos. It wouldn’t be half as bad if we were more courteous to each other on the road.
I was supposed to write about Minnesota license plates or, if I were writing a real entry for yesterday rather than relying on my bowling scores, about food that’s all the same color. Well, the snow made everything outside look the same color and I’ve heard that because of the snow, traffic was a mess which is related to license plates in that vehicles are supposed to have them.
I am glad that I don’t have to drive-commute to work. I benefit from readily available inner city public transportation and living less than two miles from where I work downtown. I can’t remember the last time I used my car to get to work. On the rare occasions when I do, it’s because I will be time-pinched to get somewhere right after work that is in the opposite direction of home. It would take me about 30 minutes or so to get home, get my car, and backtrack through downtown.
In the warmer weather I bicycle to work. It only takes 10 minutes and that’s a short enough length of time that I don’t get overheated (as a woman over 40, that’s an important consideration!). When it’s cooler, I strongly prefer to walk. It’s so much less stressful than dodging idiot, blinders-on car drivers with my bike. The walk takes about 30 minutes, which is a perfect length of time to decompress after the work day and to get physical health benefits. I call it utility recreation. I guess as a walker, I have a little adjustment period, too. Experience on the bike and on foot tells me that when the temperature is below 25°F, I need longjohns, so I always accomplish that part of the triquation. Last winter, I acquired my first ever sleeping-bag coat. Some of you know what that means. You know who you are. Today, I should have chosen the sleeping-bag coat over my merely big coat. My torso is always plenty warm even in the subbest of freezing temperatures, but the fronts of my thighs eventually get cold. Even 15 minutes (half the walk) is unpleasant enough. The sleeping bag goes down to mid-calf and takes care of that. But this weren’t nuthin’ today. Just talked to my parents in central Wisconsin and they’ve had a preemptive state of emergency declared for their possible foot of snow in the next 24 hours. They’re also 10°F warmer. I guess we Minnesotans got off lucky.
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