And How Deep is Your Snow?

We had another 6 inches last night - that makes a total of 30+ inches on the ground and it's only December. January and March are our snowiest months and our average snowfall over a winter is only 36 inches. Back in the winter of '96-'97 we had over 120 inches and Ole ran out of places to put it when he cleared the driveway. But at least we haven't had really cold temperatures - yet - that usually happens in January when we get sometimes two to three weeks of 20-30 degrees below zero. Some days it even warms up to all of 10 below. Oh well, I guess it doesn't do any good to complain.

When we lived in Florida we had two dogs that adopted us. They were strays that military people had left behind when they had to move. So of course we brought them back to Minnesota with us when Ole got out of the Navy. Hairy was a big dog with lots of fur and enjoyed the Minnesota winters. Hot Dog on the other hand wasn’t so crazy about them. He was a standard Daschund weighing in at about 35 pounds, and built low to the ground. The unfortunate thing about these two dogs is that we never had them neutered, so when Mother Nature called they would occasionally take off. Now Hot Dog was a dog that was always cold. He would lie on top of the heat registers that were so hot you couldn’t put your foot on them – but he’d cover them and soak up the heat.

One very bitter cold night I let them out before I went to bed and Hairy came back shortly but Hot Dog didn’t show up. I waited for a while, and then went to bed, getting up several times during the night to check to see if he had come back. He showed up the next morning, looking like he’d been “partying” all night, which I’m sure he had. Now you all know how low to the ground a Daschund is – and that year the snow was deep. So that night when I got home from work, there was Hot Dog suffering the results of frost bite on his “vital parts” that had been dragged through the snow while he was out “partying.” Everything was swollen and blistered and quite painful, I’m sure. So I called the vet who told me what ointment to apply to the “vital organs.” The vet laughed and asked me if this poor dog didn’t know enough to come in out of the cold. I told him that Hot Dog was a typical male and was just thinking with the wrong head!!

Talking about cold temperatures and doing stupid things. The first year that we were married I spent the months of January and February living by myself while Ole was going to school down in Minneapolis. He’d be home on weekends and that was all. We had an extremely cold snap during the month of January, but regardless of the temperature you get up and go to work anyway, as long as your car will start. I had plugged mine in, so it started right up, then went back in the house to finish getting ready for work. That’s when I heard on the radio that the actual temperature that morning was 52 DEGREES BELOW ZERO. I had ten miles to go to work, and must have been insane. With temperatures like that your car could stop along the way and where would that leave you – pretty crisp when they found you.

Then there was the year we drove home from California in January. We had flown out to visit Big Brother with the intention of buying a Mustang and driving it back to Minnesota. We found a l968 Mustang convertible (beautiful) and decided to take it home. Now mind you, this was a California car – never driven in cold weather, but Ole and Big Brother checked everything over before we took off to assure that it was in good running order. When we got as far north as Nebraska we ran into bad weather and very cold temperatures. The farther north we went the worse it got. The wind chill was at 100 below zero and the visibility was so bad you could barely see the front of the hood. Lovely Daughter was just a little girl then and we had her wrapped up in every blanket and jacket that we had along so that all you could see were two big brown eyes peering out. The top of the convertible didn’t fit tight so the snow was blowing in, landing on the dash and NOT melting, so you know it was cold in the car. We finally got as far as Sioux Falls and I convinced Ole we needed to stop. At that point in time he was invincible – you know how men are when they’re young. We found a motel, and then tried to figure out how we were going to get this car to start the next morning. Ole found an auto store, bought an engine heater, went to a car wash where it was warm to install it and when he came back to the motel plugged it in and took the battery out and brought it into the hotel room. The next morning he reassembled the car and it was the ONLY car in the parking lot that started. There were California plates on this car, and Ole had a good time going around the parking lot, jumping other cars and pretending he was from California. He even jumped a car with Alaska plates that wouldn’t start and got a big chuckle out of that.

So I guess for now I'll just "bask" in the warm temperatures we have right now - 25 ABOVE - and remember those frigid frosty days of long ago.

Are you ready for Christmas yet?

Love Lena

Isn't this supposed to be June???

This is JUNE, People!! June is supposed to be summer - and that's snow falling on the ground and piling up on the streets. This is just a few miles west of where Ole and I live and that's too darn close for comfort.

Al Gore - would you please tell me where global warming is, anyway? You sure couldn't tell it by the weather we've had in Minnesota over the last year. It was 35 degrees when I got up on Sunday morning, and not much warmer than that this morning. I WISH for some global warming. I threatened to get Ole's mittens out this morning so his hands wouldn't get cold when he grabbed the steering wheel in the truck to go to town. But he said he was tough and could get along without them. I just hope he doesn't come home with frostbite on his fingers.

As Ole was putting his long-sleeved flannel shirt on this morning when he was getting dressed he made the remark that he may have to wear flannel shirts all summer this year.

A long time ago, I wrote about Ole's wardrobe. He's a pretty classy guy, you know. He wore a three-piece suit, white shirt and tie to work for 30 years. So when he retired the suits retired too. Now his uniform of the day is blue jeans, t-shirt and a flannel shirt. I can always tell when summer arrives here in Minnesota because he quits wearing his flannel shirt. Most years that's not until the 4th of July - so we've got a few weeks yet before that happens.

Ole grumbles about his flannel shirts. I don't buy expensive ones for him to wear out in the shop where they get all greasy and dirty and full of welding holes. I go to Wally World to buy his "Fashion Statements", and even though I'm able to buy Longs or Talls, he still thinks they're made for people whose arms end at their elbows. Ole's a big man - actually he tells people he's 5'14" - that explains why most of his flannel shirts look like they have three-quarter length sleeves. Fortunately the other part of his haute courtier wardrobe isn't as difficult to find - jeans and t-shirts.

I think we need to load the motorhome again and head south so we can bask in some warmer temperatures.

Love Lena

And How Cold Is It?

I read h20phobic's blog this morning. She's from Montana and she think's she's SO smart today because her thermometer read 16 degrees ABOVE zero this morning. Mine said 12 BELOW when I got up. My only consolation is that maybe her tropical weather will head this way (crossing fingers and toes and eyes).

Okay - so it's not officially winter yet - but it's right around the corner. Heck, in many places, it's around the corner and halfway down the street!! But I guess it could be worse. When you're outside bashing and bloodying your knuckles while you try to scrape the ice off your windshield at oh-dark-30, just keep telling yourself how very lucky you are. Why? Well, you know, you could be living in Frostbite Falls with me where there's a good chance it's about 40 degrees colder than wherever you are.

Big deal? What's so special about Frostbite Falls? Well, I'll tell you. There's some pretty special people that live up here. You gotta be pretty darn tough to survive living on the edge of the world. How many towns do you know where people leave their cars running all night long so they'll start in the morning? Everybody around here has a snowmobile just to ensure that they won't get cabin fever during "weather episodes" like we had last weekend. You notice we call them "weather episodes" not blizzards. The word Blizzards would only scare folks away. And we have to increase the population up here somewhow, or at least keep it stable. Anyway, most people put more miles on their snowmobile in a year than they do on their cars. Some folks have been known to build a fire under their tractor so it will start so they can move enough snow to get out of the driveway (snicker - I think we know him, don't we?)

Have you ever wondered what it's like to drive a vehicle in the winter in Frostbite Falls? First of all, you crawl into the car or the truck (most folks around here have 4-wheel drives - for safety purposes you know) and the springs in the seats are so stiff that it feels like you're sitting on a piece of plywood. Not much give there when you hit a bump. And if you've got vinyl seats - Woo - Hoo - that's like having to make a trip to the outhouse and sitting down on that frostcovered hole!! When you manage to get your transmission shifted into gear and take off down the road there's this strange whump-whump-whump sound coming from the tires because they're actually flat on one side from sitting in the cold overnight. The ride is just a bit rough for the first few miles.

I remember having a car that the speedometer cable froze up on, it made loud grinding noises and then broke. Don't go through a carwash on an extremely cold day - windshields have been known to break when the warm water hits them. Ole's steering wheel cracked one morning when he grabbed it to pull himself into the seat.

Ole had a super-soaker once. You know those great big squirt guns that kids used to have and you'd pump them up to make them squirt? Well, one day he filled one up, opened the shop door and let 'er rip. The gun shot the water out all right because it was warm inside the shop, but the water went up in the air about 10 feet and immediately turned to ice crystals. You could hear it tinkle as it hit the ground.

If you're venturing outside during one of our "cold snaps," especially at night, you can hear these exploding noises coming from the trees, particularly the evergreens. The sap in the trees freezes and splits open parts of the trees. When you're house starts groaning and cracking and snapping you know it's really cold out. One night I woke up with a start because I heard an extremely loud bang. I thought someone had driven into the side of our house but it was just the cold temperatures contracting the wood.

And if you're out walking in the snow when it's REALLY cold the snow squeeks with each step. It sounds like it's crying out in pain. You most certainly couldn't sneak up on anything or anybody when the snow squeaks so loud.

Now up here in the Northland people do a lot of ice fishing in the winter. There's a lot of vans and pickups that are used to plow snow off the lakes so the fishermen can get to the ice houses. They adapt the vehicles to this special task by simply cutting a hole in the top and covering it with a piece of canvas. Why, you ask? So the driver can escape if his truck goes through the ice and the doors get pinned closed. No lie (snicker)!!

And most importantly for all you novices that don't know how to deal with REALLY cold weather - make sure you wear gloves when you're pumping gas because human flesh can freeze fast to the gas pump handle in a very short period of time.

Now, granted, these things don't happen when it's *only* 12 below like it is as I write this, but when the temps get down to 20 below and colder, as it does commonly here in the winter - then you better be careful.

From your friend with icicles hanging from her nose,

Lena