See and I associate that word with happy things:
Snow Cone = a tasty treat in the hot summer
Snow Peas = good in a Chinese stir fry
Snow White = a pretty lady who looks after little men
What's not to love?
Some of you
(and by some, I mean @franandaj)
have asked me to talk about
what it’s like to live in a cold climate.
yay! Everything you have told me in this chapter is just bonkers!
And no, we don’t all ski or skate
to work.
I didn't even know that was a thing! Well some people skateboard to work here.
(…however, that is me, (about 30 years ago)
and I did used to ski to work.
But that’s for the next update.)
So did you like at the top of the chair lift, ski down the hill to work and take the chairlift home?
Would it surprise you to learn that Hell is frozen?
Well, according to Dante, the center, or ninth circle, is.
It would not surprise me. If the center of the earth was all fire and brimstone it would give a whole new meaning to global warming.
With average temperatures in the high
20s Celsius (high 70s/low 80s Fahrenheit)
and plenty of sunshine
Sounds like Winter here!
I will never forget hockey practices when I was a kid.
Temperature just wasn’t something we worried about,
despite the hockey rink being outdoors.
But we sure noticed it when we’d go into the change rooms
and howl in pain from our (seemingly) frozen toes.
It does not feel like your toes/feet have gone to sleep.
It feels like ten thousand invisible gnomes are stabbing
you with tiny knives.
Repeatedly.
I do not think I have experienced this situation. My parents used to take me skiing as a kid, but I don't think it ever got that cold.
Nowadays, kids have it easy.
They cancel practice if it’s too cold,
or (worse!) they play at indoor rinks.
So what temperature is too cold for them to play outside?
I get dressed in the same types of clothes
you might find anywhere
Tank top and capris?
You can’t just walk out of the house,
hop in the car and go.
This is what I was kind of thinking....
A typical coat you’d wear in winter:
(Cost $300-$600)
I pretty sure it would never get that cold for a coat like that here.
But I also have cold weather gear that
most don’t have, similar to this:
(Cost ~$1,300)
I'm absolutely sure that would sit in my closet never getting used. Less often than my formal gown that I wore to the Masquerade Ball (once, and I've ha it for over 10 years.)
Case in point. Wearing it while a group
of birthday party kids are sledding.
I laugh as they retreat, shivering, to the warmth
of the indoors, while I am perfectly warm.
I suppose I remember not being tall enough to ski and my parents would take me to a place with hills and we would slide on those saucers for a while. Now I can't understand how anyone would want to be out in that kind of cold.
A glance outside has told me that it’s
snowed (again) last night.
I can’t even leave the house
until I’ve shoveled the driveway.
Even a thin layer needs to be removed.
If you don’t, your vehicle will pack the snow down,
making it almost impossible to remove later.
I'm glad you told me this because I'm lazy and wouldn’t worry about a thin layer. Then again I still can't wrap my head around the reality that it stays so cold for so long and it doesn't just melt a few days later when the sun comes back.
I don boots.
(If the snow isn’t too deep and/or
it’s not too cold, something like this:
(Cost $200-$300)
I should show you a picture of my "heavy duty" boots. I bought them when I was in Seattle for Thanksgiving and we woke up to a dusting of snow. I had only brought pump-like flats and fashionable boots. None of which were good for trapsing through a few inches of snow. My boots pale in comparison to yours.
Or if it’s colder or the snow is deeper:
Equipped with a thick felt sole
to insulate your foot from the cold.
(Keeps those invisible stabby gnomes at bay.)
(Cost $150-$250. Warmer… but less stylish.)
OK one thing I'm gleaning from your update is that while our taxes (in Sunny warm land) are higher than other places in my country, the people paying lower taxes make up for those taxes by having to spend exorbitant amounts of money on clothes to keep warm!
Others hire services who come out and clean
your snow for you.
Similar to a housecleaning or lawncare service.
Ding! Ding! Ding! This would be me! My gardener is my hero!
There is an art to shoveling snow.
You don’t “dig”. You push.
But not in any ol’ way.
Again, there’s an art to shoveling.
Here is The Best, correct way to shovel
a driveway.
I never would have guessed this.
First, make a path down the center.
That is a very tidy path! I would just have started at the top and kept moving the snow further down the driveway like a broom!
Then push the snow, one shovel-width at a time,
towards the edge of the driveway.
This makes sense with a memory that I have of my childhood when I lived in Boston.
Once you’ve pushed the snow to the edge,
you can’t just leave it there.
If you do, you’ll wind up with a mountain of snow
that you can’t throw the snow over.
That might happen anyway.
But best to delay it as long as possible.
It’s not exactly fun trying to throw snow
over a seven-foot-tall mountain.
Considering we moved to CA when I was five, no wonder I remember those snow piles on either side of car as being HUGE.
if you can, and try not to cry.
Your tears will just freeze to your face.
That would be, pai ful and unfortunate.
I may, in no particular order:
- Switch coats
- Switch boots or change into sneakers.
- Switch mitts for gloves.
- Remove tuque.
Yikes! I only like to get dressed once a day.
One Sunday, this past February, CAA rescued 1,200 people.
And they weren’t even bothering with people who were home.
Was that Nationwide or just in MB?
Some people will start their car and let it run for a few minutes.
It was a necessity before, but now, with fuel-injection,
it’s more for comfort.
Nice to get into a warm car instead of a mobile freezer.
I remember my mom doing that before we left for morning workout in Nor Cal. I had to be in the pool at 5:30AM.
Unless of course it’s snowed a lot,
in which case, it doesn’t matter that you
shoveled the driveway… the street is impassable
Ugh. Why bother? Just bulk buy at Costco and stay home.
If it’s a blizzard or storm, the road
will be cleared tomorrow.
All that snow gets plowed to the sides
of residential streets, or hauled away
by an army of trucks that pile it into
massive snow hills.
Well thank goodness for them! But how do they get to work if the streets are impassable? Or are they like Mark and they sleep in their offices/trucks when the word of a blizzard is coming?
It's not unusual to see a flag planted
on top of them.
Although that's frowned
upon by the powers as it's a bit dangerous.
Why is it dangerous? How big are these flags?
If you absolutely need something…
I have donned a pair of snowshoes and
walked over. Excuse me... snowshoed over.
How close is your market?
Don’t forget to test the brakes before you
get to that first set of lights or stop sign.
Depending on road conditions, you may find
yourself sliding right through that intersection,
so find out how slippery it is before it’s too late.
I have seen video of cars in the Midwest sliding into each other cause the roads are icy.
Once at the store, try to park somewhere
that at least looks like you know where the lines are.
(They’re under the snow, so you can’t see them.
But there’s probably other cars already parked.
Pick a spot. Join in! It’s fun!)
Perhaps this is when you are "that guy" who parks far away from everyone else so he doesn't get door dings.
Take off your gloves and tuque, unzip that coat.
Once shopping is done, zip up coat,
put on tuque and gloves.
Have fun pushing your
shopping cart through the snow.
T’ain’t easy. And if you’re not able-bodied…
It’s darn near impossible.
Then again maybe you do want to park closer to the store.....
You can’t just clean the windows, you have to brush
the entire car. If you don’t, you’ll either have snow
blowing off the hood into the windshield,
off the roof onto the rear window,
or obscuring the front or rear lights.
Or worse... blowing off your car
into someone else's car, possibly
causing an accident.
See now people in California don't know that. I remember driving in Northern California like on I5, cars would enter the highway coming from higher altitude places that may have had a few inches of snow. These folks still had snow on their trunks and the hoods of their cars.
Not many people have jumper cables,
We usually have a vehicle emergency kit in our cars and they have jumper cables!
You can get yourself out of most
snow-stuck-situations.
Simply put the car in drive and move
the car forward a fraction.
Quickly shift into reverse as the car is
settling back into the rut and move
it back a fraction.
Continue to rock the car back and forth
several times until you've built up
a bit of momentum.
Drive out.
Interesting. I hope I don't have to use this knowledge.
But wait! What about the groceries?
Not to worry. I bought ice cream and frozen fries
and frozen pizza and a couple TV dinners.
They’ll be fine in the car for… months
I learned about this when we visited Jackson Hole Wyoming. We brought a case of beer and rather than putting it in the fridge, the guys just put it on the porch.
All snow brushes have a window scraper at the
other end of the brush.
So now you can scrape all the frost off all the windows.
We had just a scraper for those mornings in Nor Cal when I had to be in the pool by 5:30AM.
I have to wait for the windows to defrost
on the inside now, from condensation.
You can prevent this by not breathing
and not having a warm body temperature.
It's always confusing for us when we drive at night and it's cold. We can't figure out which way to turn the defrost, sometimes we have to open the windows to get rid of the fog.
I think I’ll pull over here.
I’ll be a bit, have to wait for the car to warm up…
OK. I'll wait.