He's Back

Old Man Winter, that is. My sister’s favorite time of the year.

Thursday the wind was blowing about 50mph. We are talking about garden planter, metal yard furniture toppling wind. I sat in my office shivering all day with my fingernails turning purple.

This event begins with the nonsensical changing of the clocks every fall. Suddenly you are driving home from work at the end of the day, trying to beat the setting sun. You can’t understand why you are sweating, but it’s because you had the car heater on that morning. You switch it over to a/c. Of course, the next morning you are freezing because you are half way to work before you realize you still have the a/c on. It’s a vicious cycle. Until it becomes freezing cold every day.

Then you have to turn on the home heater. At our house, this is followed by the smoke alarm going off. And no, the dogs did not run outside to safety. That disgusting “first heater smell” takes about a day to wear off. Next your skin dries out from the lack of humidity in the house. The dogs cringe when you go to pet them because they don’t know if you are going to “shock” them with the static electricity that’s built up.

You rush to the salon to stock up on hair products (for fly-a-ways) and the pharmacy for lip balm, lotion, tissues, and cold products. You sit around sniffling all day, waiting for your nose to start peeling from blowing it all the time. You get that little dangling piece of skin at the opening of your nostril that makes you look like you have a permanent booger.

Yes, winter….such good times.

The grass is dead, all the flowers are dead, the trees are bare. It’s too cold to get outside with the dogs. You think twice about every event outside the home, weighing how much you want to go against how much you enjoy staying warm. Also you have to consider the time and energy it takes to de-ice your car prior to any outing.

You see how far you can drive on empty before completely running out of gas, because you don’t want to stand outside in the wind to fill up. Plus I get shocked every time I get out of my car, so I also get to worry about exploding at the gas pump. Whoopee! (while writing this post, I found a gadget to eliminate this.)

I especially love those days when the wind is so strong you can’t get out of your car because it keeps blowing the door shut…sometimes on your leg. Carrying anything, like a bucket of mail into the post office, also become a challenge.

Some folks like the winter because of the holidays I guess. The dreaded holidays….when you spend all day cooking for a houseful of people, who spend all of five minutes eating, and then you are left with two day’s worth of dishes to wash. Or you spend money you don’t really have, at crowded store you don’t want to be in, for present you don’t know if the recipient will like. What’s not to love about all that? Look, I know some people love this “most joyous” time of the year….I’m just not one of them.

Here’s the five things I do like about winter:

• Days off work
• Soups, stews, chili, and other hot foods
• Hot chocolate with tons of marshmallows
• More days off work

And the number one reason I like winter:

Wearing gloves everywhere, so the Monk in me doesn’t have to touch anything

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This blog post brought to you by SAD. I proud member since 1990.

Comments

[elaine warner]

I'm SO glad I found your blog! Look forward to following it regularly.
Elaine Warner
www.okietravel.blogspot.com

[Brenda Kula]

I'm like you, not really a "holiday" person. I hate the commercialism. Thus, I'm only giving money to my daughter for my (then it will be two!) grandchildren. Other than that, nada. Not going to partake of the madness of malls or stores. Not going to knock myself out cooking. Not even purchasing wrapping paper. To hell with that! I think Xmas shopping and all that has become madness. And if the current economic scariness has not taught people anything, then shame on them!
Brenda