Is cold today
As I'm looking on our town website to figure out how to get Harvey a social security card (don't get me started on that...) I notice a helpful box reminding me of the outside weather:
Hi winter! You snuck up on me, didn't you? I was all, LA LA LA, fall weather is pleasant and brisk, and then BOOM! I'm walking the dog and I can't feel my fingers. And I can't yell for him because my jaw is frozen. And I'm wearing the same smelly long-johns day after day after day. And on some of those days I don't get to shower. Actually, maybe that last bit of info is going too far...
In the past I have said things such as "I hate winter," which I will not stoop to uttering now. I don't want to offend the friends of winter lobbying group within my household. I will say that the newfound difficulty with going anywhere outside of the house makes me more inclined to live my life entirely within these two floors. Which is appropriate for a new mom. But still, showering might be in order...
my annual cold post
For people who boast that they live in a place with more weather than most, New Englanders sure like to complain about it. I don't know, maybe that's part of the boasting. Yes, it was colder today than it has been for some time. No, it was not worth declaring a state of emergency over it, nor should the administration have needed to request—nay, demand—that I cut my traffic duties short in order to avoid cold-related injuries. I insisted that I didn't mind it a bit, which is a good thing because in the event they couldn't find anyone to take over from me: everyone else was sure they would mind.
Actually, I continue to be surprised at how warm biking makes me. Even today, when the thermometer read 10° as I was leaving the house, I needed to stop and take off layers. I started with my ski mittens on, then switched to my double-thick fleece mittens, and then down to just the thin layer of fleece. I also ditched the thin windbreaker and unzipped my fleece coat. I could have even taken the fleece coat off, I think, and finished the ride in the same clothes as I wore inside all day—which has been my practice most days so far with temperature ranges from 20° to, oh 45° or so. So in other words, I have not yet discovered the lower bound beyond which the heat generated from aerobic exercise is stripped away faster than I'm able to replenish it.
That's only as long as I'm moving, of course. I took the precaution of sticking my big LL Bean field coat on the dork rack (the coat that I've worn every day of every winter for most of my life, until I started this biking thing this year). I needed it for the traffic work, what with the standing still and all—but even there, I had to wait about five minutes before I was cool enough to put it on. I also wanted it just in case I got a flat or wrecked or something. I didn't want to end up hypothermic by the side of the road; if that happened, I'd never be able to make fun of folks for complaining about the cold again!
(I do wish I had a picture of cold from the commute. I do not, because I'm afraid to take my camera along: it is large and fragile. Someday I'll work up the courage, though.)