Baby, It's Cold Outside

I now understand more why Sarah Palin is such a hearty person.

The temperature here has hovered between ten below and ten above zero for several days. I have great admiration for the people who choose to live here. But you can't imagine the beauty of this winter wonderland.

Today's observations:

A few blocks from home we saw four fire trucks in a residential neighborhood. House fires are still not uncommon.

We had lunch today with a friend of my boyfriend's. He's lived here all of his long life. I asked him how it was growing up. He said his mother hung the sheets on the clothes line and the kids brought them in - frozen solid.

I'm amazed that by 10:00 A.M. the roads have been cleared by the big snow plows. Even my boyfriend's short dead end street. But it's a given that there will be some days when people can't leave their homes.

The other evening we went out for a sandwich in minus 8 degree weather. I couldn't imagine anybody else being this brave. A young woman came into the restaurant with her baby. It took a full ten minutes to unwrap the baby and herself. She acted like it was no big deal.

My boyfriend lives on a creek. Up a ways the children have swept the snow off a large portion of the creek and added a hockey cage and white molded plastic chairs for spectators. I can't imagine sitting out there for long.

Years ago for one of my boyfriend's family's New Year's eve parties, they invited guests to bring ice skates. At midnight they all went skating on the creek.

We hardly ever do that at my house.

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