Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Under the Weather

I have noticed a disturbing trend on my blog lately.  That is, almost every entry has something to do with how I do not have time to write or post anything on my blog. Ugh. So I will not say that today, as I am writing something; therefore that statement would obviously be untrue.

Instead, I will take this opportunity to complain about  describe the weather we've been having lately.  Today it is a lovely, though wintery, sunny day.  The snow is still knee- to hip-deep, of course, as I have continually pointed out that it never melts, or it waits till sometime in April, anyway.  The last time I heard, we had gotten some amount of snow every single day in January except for one; we may be up to two or three snow-free days by now, since I haven't seen any flakes flying today.  But this does make me appreciate even more the beautiful sunshine today.  Another great thing about today is that the temperature is a toasty 27 degrees, a whole 49 degrees WARMER than last Friday's season low of -22.  When I woke up last Friday morning the fancy time-and-temperature-flashing-on-the-ceiling clock was out of range for temperature, which means that it measured the temperature at some point below its low of -23.7.  You just have to use sheer will power to pull yourself out of bed at that point!

It was cold.  If we go with the Weather Channel's official temperature of -22 (though my fancy clock would suggest it was lower in our yard), let's just take a moment to see how that compares with some familiar temperatures:
  • -22 is 66 degrees colder than most refrigerators.
  • -22 is 22 degrees colder than most freezers.
  • -22 is 54 degrees colder than the freezing point of water.  This is why we do not use the term "freezing" to mean 32 degrees, like we often did in AL, because it would really be considered a warm-up on most winter days if we hit "freezing!"
  • -22 is 24 degrees colder than the average low of 2 degrees for January 21 in Plymouth, MN.
  • -22 is only 6 degrees warmer than the record low for January 21 in Plymouth, MN.
  • -22 is 72 degrees colder than the average low for January in Melbourne, FL.  Most of you will recall that our family has moved from there to here TWICE now.  Oh well.
So if you want to know how different it feels to live here (Though, actually, we are not even talking about wind chill here, but actual temperatures!), just stand in your freezer a while and try to imagine yourself 22 degrees colder.  (No wonder my refrigerator feels so warm to me every time I come in from grocery shopping!  This is why I own a refrigerator thermometer.)  Maybe then you will understand why my children are, at this moment, outside basking in the weak January sunshine, playing in the snow with only snowpants, sweatshirts, and gloves.  Who needs coats when the temperature has gone up 49 degrees?


I Corinthians 7:17:
"Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him."

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Maybe Next Year...Which is Now This Year

Well, I did it again.  I failed to complete the December Photo Project, which was supposed to be a picture each day for the first 25 days of December, to commemorate all the celebrations of the Christmas season.  I was doing so well, too, at first.  Then the whole thing went downhill, and it can be explained by the photo for December 21.  I got a nasty cold, right before Christmas.  I was not even able to sing in the choir on Christmas Eve. Ugh.  Sure, I was barely keeping up and things were about to spin out of control anyway, with a million activities and a lot of relatives on the way up here, but I am still blaming the cold!

Now the cold is still here, but Christmas and New Years have come and gone; and, thankfully, much fun was had by all.  I feel better but still can't breath.  But now I have been joined by nearly the whole family, even a few out of town relatives (sorry!).  I am not usually the one who starts the family illnesses, but I guess we each take our turn eventually.

All this is to say that I am now going to post those last three (Only three, see I almost did it!) photos, since I did take pictures on those days.  And since I have waited so long and already confessed, I will back date them without one ounce of guilt!

I hope everyone had as nice a Christmas and New Years as I did - minus the cold!