Tag: weather

Cold

December 9th, 2025

I hate the cold. I really do. However, for reasons that even I can’t understand, I live in Wisconsin. Despite the effects of climate change, winter in this state can be brutal. Just an hour ago, I shoveled snow off the driveway. There is probably a good foot of snow on the ground from all the storms that rolled through here in the past two weeks. It’s not even the middle of December yet. We have already had a couple days/nights with temperatures in the teens or single digits (I am talking terms of the Fahrenheit scale). We have months to go before the first hint of spring. I grow weary.

I didn’t always have this aversion to snow and cold. Back in June of 1978, courtesy of the U.S Army, I spent a week on a glacier near Fairbanks, Alaska. Granted, I was there in June, but walking all day on top of a gargantuan ice cube is still kind of brisk. Overall, the experience was fun. It was an adventure of sorts. That week was the only time in my military career when I was required to wear sunglasses. The glare off the ice was intense. I managed to get sunburned under my nose and chin from the UV light reflected off the glacier. I remember distinctly how blue the ice was. When I looked down a deep crevasse, it was as if the ice below me was glowing an azure blue. It was cold up on the ice, but it was something worth doing.

Fast forward a few decades. I worked on the dock of a trucking company for almost twenty-eight years. The building had a roof and well over one hundred doors. The doors were for there for the trucks to back into. That means that these doors were usually open. That means that the ambient temperature on the dock was exactly the same as the temperature outside. In winter it was cold. I mostly worked a night shift, so it got really cold.

Working in the cold is at best miserable. It can also be harmful to a person’s health. Hypothermia and frostbite are not fun. A person learns to dress properly to function in a cold environment, but the truth is that sometimes you simply cannot stay warm. Eight to ten hours in below freezing temperatures sucks the energy out of person. After working my shift in the depths of winter, I often went home, ate supper, took a shower, and crashed in bed. When I woke up, I got dressed to do it all over again. That kind of job wears on a person. It leaves a mark.

Working in the cold is a young man’s game. Now that I am old and retired, I don’t want to go out in frigid weather unless I absolutely must. My body doesn’t tolerate the cold like it did forty or fifty years ago. When my little grandson wants to play in the snow, I go with him, but with great reluctance. I just can’t handle it like he does.

I read once that the Tibetans imagined hell to be a very cold place.

They might be right.

Shoveling

December 1st, 2025

The winter storm started early on Saturday morning. It snowed for twenty-four hours straight. It wasn’t a blizzard. There was very little wind, and only a light snow fell most of the time. However, it snowed continuously hour after hour.

I went outside three times on Saturday to shovel snow from the driveway. I didn’t really mind doing that. I needed the exercise and the fresh air. Our grandson, Asher, came out with me twice to “help”. He had on his snow pants and thick winter coat. His knit cap with the pompom was on his head. He wore the scarf and mittens that my wife had made for him. The mittens are felted and look like frogs. Asher pushed around his little shovel until his cheeks got rosy and his hands got cold. He usually spread snow on areas that I had already cleared off. Then he went inside. I went inside with him.

The heaviest snow came during Saturday night. When I woke the next morning there were probably six inches of fresh snow covering the ground. Once my wife was up and ready to watch over Asher, I went back out to clear the driveway one last time.

At this point, it should be mentioned that I have a snowblower. A reasonable person may ask, “Then why the hell don’t you use it?”

There are a couple reasons for that. First, I have a dislike for machines, especially noisy ones. I worked for decades around extremely loud equipment (e.g. helicopters and forklifts). The aftermath of a heavy snow creates a sort of pristine and peaceful outdoor environment. I prefer to keep it that way even if I need to move some of the white stuff in order to drive our car. A snowblower makes a hellacious racket. Yes, it makes the work easier and quicker, but at a cost. A snowblower is only good for rough work. A person still needs to use a shovel to clean up the remaining mess.

My snowblower is an older, used model that was given to me for free. It can be a fickle beast. It often takes several tries to get it started. I do not have the aptitude nor the patience to troubleshoot a problem with a snowblower when it is cold and wet outside. I just don’t want to screw with it. I know how to use a shovel, and it works every time. It is simply less frustrating to grab the shovel and go at the piles of snow.

The driveway is clear until the next storm rolls through. By that time, my shoulders and back will be less stiff, and I will be ready to grab the shovel again. The snowblower can rest right where it is.