Thursday, March 28, 2024

I Was Thinking... It’s Cold Out

It is December, and this is Minnesota, so why are we often surprised that it is getting colder? Yet every year when the temperatures begin to drop, we complain about how cold it is. Our initial fear is the first frost that will kill our outdoor flowers. In the late fall, we battle back by covering plants or taking pots into the garage for protection.

We know eventually we won’t be able to save them, but we try to fend off winter as long as we can. But we know the battle won’t be won and we inevitably give up and let nature take its course.

Our protests continue when we finally get the first snow that is enough to scrape off the driveway and make the roads slick. I can excuse drivers that have just moved to Minnesota and have their first experience with driving on snow, but what about us natives? Every year, after the first snow, you would think that it was something totally new that we had never encountered before. The news reports drivers sliding off the roadways or being involved in fender benders across the state. It is like we have to learn all over again. Maybe it is just our deep desire to deny the arrival of winter.

When we dip below the freezing mark for several consecutive days, we grumble some more and trade in our jackets for warmer coats and may even grab a hat. But it is only 28° and if it would get that high in January, we would think we had a heat wave.

But being Minnesotans, we feel we have a right to whine about the weather, that’s who we are. It’s too hot in the summer, too wet in the spring, too dry in the fall, and too cold in the winter. Yet at the same time we boast about our hardiness and ability to thrive in the nation’s icebox.

When we traveled through Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and the Carolinas this fall, we found that others perceive our state with cool trepidation. When asked where we were from, these Southerners, involuntarily shook and said, “Oh, it’s so cold up there.”

To many of them, Minnesota represented a frosty forbidding place where it was cold all the time. Their stereotypes about the north were about as accurate as my stereotypes about the south.

While I prefer to wear shorts and short sleeves, my closet is full of clothes that enable me to survive the impending cold. Besides, at this stage in my life, I don’t really have many places I “have to” go to if I feel it is too cold. My warm house, warm clothes, and warm cars (with heated seats) should reduce my need to complain about the cold. While my old body doesn’t adapt to temperature extremes like it used to, others don’t let a little nip in the air slow them down.

No matter what the temperature, the garbage is still picked up, people delivering mail with an open window just keep going and crossing guards still do their jobs to keep kids safe. On a recent drive, I passed a construction site in Byron with steel workers perched high on a lift attaching beams.

When the cold and snow gets its worst, plow drivers will still be on the roads to keep them safe. No matter what the temperature, farmers will still tend to their livestock. Even in the coldest of temps, some hardcore joggers will still hit the roads. A seasoned farmer once told me, “It’s not how cold it gets, it’s how you dress for the cold.” Still pretty good advice.

Did You Ever Wonder? — Why is Greenland mostly ice and Iceland mostly green?

Photo: I was thinking Ron Albright

 

Dodge County Independent

Dodge County Independent
Dodge County ADvantage
301 S. Mantorville Ave.
Plaza 57 • Suite 200
Kasson, MN 55944

Dodge County Printing
301 S. Mantorville Ave.
Plaza 57 • Suite 200
Kasson, MN 55944

507-634-7503
 
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