It’s that time of winter – the “I might lose it” point. The point where Minnesotans eye their apple peeler and think, “With just the right motion I could remove enough of my frontal lobe where I won’t care about the snow. Trepanning, yeah – that’s the ticket!”
It will all be better with just a few turns of the handle…
This hasn’t been a “bad” winter in most regards. Not a huge amount of snow. But for those of you in more temperate climates it’s important to note that on Saturday morning it was 9 degrees. That’s the point where you die of exposure in under an hour if you’re just wearing your swimsuit. Which at this moment is not all that far fetched: we all get a little loony around the end of January and start telling ourselves that if we just “think spring” it will make things better. This is the only place I know of that you see people pumping gas into their cars wearing a stocking cap, a down vest, tropical shorts, and Sorel boots. And it’s not uncommon.
This is the main problem:
No longer fluffy. More nasty than nifty.
That is what you get when the snow freezes, melts, freezes, melts, and then freezes again. It’s no longer fluffy. It smells bad. It’s dirty. If you jump into the pile of snow next to your driveway you will get abrasions and broken bones. The stuff is the hardness of concrete. It is the frozen liquid that sank the Titanic. Don’t believe me? High-center your car on a snow bank and plan on replacing your transmission, gas tank, and exhaust.
Even the dogs hate this stuff. My old fellow, Edzell, cannot even lay down on the snow without struggling to get up again. Fall down and break things.
I console myself with the knowledge that I’m escaping for a few days down the road. And then it will only be a few weeks until most of the nightmare is over. Spring can arrive as early as two weeks from now. Or as late as mid May. I’m hoping for March.
I try not to let the “cabin fever” get me. But this year it’s grinding on me.
What provokes a “fever” in you? Is it winter? Is it the rainy season? Is it your boss?
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Today’s keyword bingo entry is: sequestration! Notice the world didn’t end with it?
