I’m dreaming of a warm place

I’m not normally one to complain about the cold. I actually enjoy it more than most but my goodness, this cold streak hit me like a freight train. In previous winters, I had been either working from home or going to school remotely so the cold wasn’t as much a part of my everyday life.

Now, I commute 35-40 minutes to work every day and my vehicle doesn’t have remote start and isn’t the quickest heating car. I seemed to have forgotten that until the recent cold streak decided to rudely remind me that this is indeed Wisconsin and it does indeed get cold during the winter.

I enjoyed snow blowing the first time this winter. There’s something about getting out the snowblower for the first time and realizing that it still runs after sitting all summer.

However, the next couple days kept dumping more and more snow on my driveway and sidewalks. Then it started to get pretty old, pretty quick.

The whole ordeal had me dreaming about heading to somewhere warm. Two years ago, Kaitlyn and I went to Phoenix, Ariz. during March. During that trip, we were able to escape the constant cold and snow up here and instead, we were able to go on hikes at 7 a.m. and walk around Scottsdale in shorts and t-shirts. I used to think snowbirds were taking the easy way out of the cold by moving down to Arizona and Florida or Texas and while that might still be true, I understand it now.

I do look forward to that first snowfall, the awesome photography that winter ice and snow can provide and Christmas lights. But I’m not sure that outweighs the consistent negative temperatures we see up here.

Over the next couple of days, states like Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and others are going to experience extreme cold that they aren’t as prepared for in terms of infrastructure as we are. In that respect I am grateful.

We saw it last week with the snow and ice storms that swept through our area. I was one of the lucky ones that didn’t lose power at all during the events. Southern states don’t have the cold weather-resistant equipment and infrastructure that we have up here. Why would they? It’s not often they have to deal with below-freezing temperatures. But when they do get colder temperatures, it seems as if it’s even more catastrophic than other areas of the country.

On top of the top tier equipment, we’ve got extraordinary crews of linesmen and emergency workers that are able to get power lines fixed and back online to make sure minimal time is spent without power. I’m grateful that we’re prepared to deal with cold and any type of precipitation a Wisconsin winter might throw at us.

Speeding

Through

L

ife