By the time you sit down do read the Northern Sentry, hopefully the very coldest weather of this horribly awful cold snap is behind us. I often think that the folks on the national and local TV networks look ahead and give us a ray of hope for improving weather conditions. The fact is…there is no way to go but up, right?
So, let’s look on the positive side of those -36 degree temperatures:
1) We could have been living in Bottineau where according to one local weather monitoring station it was -45 degrees, without wind chill!
2) We didn’t have a lot of wind. The lowest wind chill I heard was -65 degrees.
3) According to Col Schlabach there wasn’t a mosquito in site.
4) There is hope for warmer weather on the horizon, if we can just make it through this week.
5) If your car started on the morning of February 18th, more than likely it will start in almost any weather.
6) You probably learned where your engine heater cord is located on your car. And if you didn’t find one, take heart in the fact that installing one will now seem to make sense.
7) You can use -36 degrees (or event -45 degrees) as a benchmark for letting folks know you are doing OK. Start with “I lived through -36 degrees, I can live through anything…”
8) Not saying that it has never happened, but this is unusually cold for the middle of February.
9) And finally…the conversation about the weather was quickly replaced this morning with conversation about the price of eggs. We can see an end to bitterly cold weather; but the price of eggs may go up, again. Who has ever heard of eggs being $11.00 a dozen? My Maddock math says that’s .92 cents an egg. I heard a guy joking at breakfast that he had to start making one egg omelets.
We also need to have a short conversation about perspectives. “How’s that?” you say. Well, everyone is looking at the temperatures ahead for the weekend and are quite ecstatic that it might hit 45 degrees, or even warmer. Folks, this was the same 45 degrees that seemed like the coming of the ice age last fall. It is tough not to be giddy about a temperature of 45 degrees above zero when just a few days ago it was 45 degrees below zero in Bottineau. Back to my Maddock math…the temperature has changed by 90 degrees! Think about it.
Hypothetically tonight at midnight it could be zero degrees. You are reaching for a hat, gloves, scarf, finding your remote car starter; whatever it takes to get warm. Tomorrow at 5 PM it’s 90 degrees above zero (Note: you don’t ever here above zero for 90 degrees, but I thought it put emphasis on my point). Shorts, suntan lotion, and tank tops. My point is that it is all about perspectives. I kind of look at this cold snap and in my North Dakota survivor mode talk about 2 weeks of temperatures below zero, or -90 degree wind chill, and at my age you can point to a year and say “do you remember the winter of 1965? Boy was it cold!”
I also did a short stint working in the Northwest Territories when I was younger. Up there, they build power lines in the winter because there are no flies to torment them. You also kind of laugh a bit at the cold in that if you spit, and your spit does not freeze and crack before it hits the ground, it’s not – 65 degrees (below zero). It’s kind of like this morning where a teacher in a small school in northern North Dakota did the bucket of water test. Through a bucket of warm water into the air, and it’s so cold that it turns to ice crystals before it hits the ground. Perspective, right?
My final thought on cold weather is…you never have to stop and think about where you put your hat and gloves? More than likely you are wearing them…
Best Kept Secrets
In a recent email from a friend of mine, he wrote about the equivalent of apple sauce as compared to using eggs when baking. Check out the web site “thekitchenwhisperer.net” for all kinds of egg substitutes. No guarantees…but thought you might be interested.
Today’s Chuckle
Exercise regimens are nothing new. Back on the farm, they called them chores.
