Minnesota Snow and Frigid Temps

Well we got our first winter blast yesterday with 6” of snow, this morning I woke up to -6.2 below 0. Randy plowed snow yesterday so that is good. The fact that he left before his alarm clock went off at 2:00 a.m. was not good.  I hadn't sleep very well and so I stayed in bed when he left.  I had just dozed off when this horrid sound woke me up.  The radio alarm had gone off and I was hearing two stations crossing at once.  I thought I could just pull the covers over my head but it got the best of me !   So I started calling for Lindsay who was down the hall in bed with her door closed.  My voice was hoarse before she actually woke up and decided I was not calling her in a dream. 

This morning Randy got me out of bed about 6:00 a.m. and I came into my office and saw light outside (yes, you late sleepers, it's dark outside at 6:00 a.m.). I though the kids forgot to turn the garage light off, but then I looked closer out my window and low and behold, Paige, our grand daughter is outside swinging away on the swing at these frigid temps. She never ceases to amaze me. She thinks nothing of it. Swinging back and forth causing her own windchill in additon to the below 0 temps. At least she had boots on this time. Last year, she would swing at below 0 temps in sandals. Yes flip flop sandals. She actually got frostbite on several toes and the skin peeled off in several layers. She didn’t think that would happen. Since she did that, she now believes her toes could and would turn black and need to be amputated.

For those of you who have seen our amazing "concrete" swing set/playground, you now know it is put to good use ALL year long.   Paige is outside swinging at all hours and all temps.  She puts her ear phones on and I-pod blasting and singing very louldy and very off tune ! It is one of the only times she is really really happy, being a teen is very tough you know.  We are just really really happy when the windows are closed.  Seriously, I wonder what the neighbors think when they hear that extremly strange sound coming from up our hill !!  I can't explain what it sounds like, you really have to experience it yourself !!  In the summer late nights, Lindsay will holler to stop singing (that is puttig it nicely) because her window is facing the swings and she can't sleep.  Tootsi actually growls when she hears the singing. She must think a predator is on our property.  I love you Paige, even though you sing way off tune and don't like me because you are in your teenager years.

The older I get, the less I go out in winter.  The white snow looks pretty from this side of the window, but I also get the winter blues for the long months I am stuck indoors.  Long gone are my days of sledding and making snowmen.