"Brr" Just Doesn't Quite Cut It

Anyone who’s known me for any length of time knows that I do not enjoy being hot. That is quite the understatement; I despise being hot. I sweat like a boy and my face gets a horrible shade of orange-red. Not a pretty sight. I used to think that meant I preferred being cold. However, after the past few days of life here in the frozen tundra I am realizing that I don’t like to be cold, either.

Our high today is +13 but it feels like -10 thanks to the wind chill. The wind is blowing like crazy, snow is falling, and I’m wearing long underwear and a scarf inside the house. Inside the house. To go out to the kids’ basketball games this morning I wore snow boots, my heavy wool coat, the aforementioned scarf and long underwear, as well as gloves, ear muffs and anything else I could get my mittened hands on.

There should really be another word for cold when it’s this cold. Even freezing doesn’t seem to work. I’ve been using “too dadgum cold” but I have to repeat myself often because no one up here has heard that phrase before. So I’m searching for a new word or words to describe the bone-chilling, lip-chapping, makes-my-nose-run-like-a-sieve cold I’m living through.

Obviously lots of other folks are living through the same nasty weather. And when I ask seasoned Midwestern folks how they cope with the cold they all say the same thing: “You have to have the right clothes.” Apparently homemade quilts qualify, because I’ve actually seen people walking around wrapped in blankets. That seems to say to me that there aren’t warm enough coats made… And I always thought scarves were accessories, not vital pieces of my wardrobe. But I’m finding if I go without one wrapped around my neck and carefully tucked into my coat the wind feels like it’s going to cut right through me, starting just below my ears.

Anyway, I’ve decided to stay inside as much as possible. This Southern girl doesn’t feel the need to experience any more of the wind chill than absolutely necessary.

This is a picture of our backyard this afternoon. Notice how the swings are crossed, thanks to the wind.