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Baby, it’s cold outside

December 2, 2008 | Iowa,Weather,Winter

 

Sorry I haven’t blogged for a while, but I’ve been busy freezing. No, not freezing, as in preserving apples and putting them in the freezer. Just freezing. As in … brrrr.

When this coldness started — before the snow in October — and I was bundled up in my brand-spankin’ new winter coat, someone wearing sandals walked up to me, leaned in and said, “This isn’t cold yet.” Gee, thanks. (He knew I just moved here from Florida. Maybe the Arctic Circle winter gear in September was the tip-off.)

The amazing this is … 8 degrees makes 20 degrees feel bearable, 20 makes 32 feel almost comfortable, and 32 makes 40 feel downright balmy. That explains the folks I see wearing shorts. Well, no, not really. Nothing explains that. But, in a way, I can see now how 50 degrees feels like it’s time to break out the T-shirts and shorts, where 50 degrees in Tampa had me scrambling for my coat.

I shouldn’t be surprised by the cold. I mean, I grew up in the Midwest. I should know better, right? But something in the brain shuts down and forgets. It’s like when I first moved to Florida, I went swimming in the ocean in December. Heck, after a record-breaking frigid Midwestern winter, it felt tropical to me. People who lived there thought I was crazy. By the next December, I was wearing my winter coat just like the rest of them.

Early on, I was impressed by how warm the house here stayed. Hmm, must be the new windows, and maybe the insulation is good, I thought. It’s a brick house. That probably helps.

Well, that was all before the temperature dropped below 20 outside. Then it was just darn cold everywhere, even in the house. So I started wearing my Winter Silks long johns, the ones I hadn’t worn (hadn’t had to wear) since living in Norway. I wear them all the time now. In fact, I’m wearing them right now. Is that TMI?

And I totally cheated and opened my Christmas gift from Norway early. (Shhh! Don’t tell the kids.) It’s a new winter dyne for my bed … sort of like a duvet, but better. Oh, what a wonderful difference it makes to stay nice and toasty at night. I knock Norwegians for a lot of things, but this one they got right. Well, they didn’t actually invent the dyne … they’re all over Europe. Norwegians like to brag about inventing the paper clip, yadda yadda. But if they want credit for the dyne, I’ll give it to them.

Posted by Becky @ 10:53 pm  

2 Responses to “Baby, it’s cold outside”

  1. magpie Says:

    A dyne? What is this dyne? How is it better than a duvet? I think I need one.

  2. `ChewY` Says:

    dynes duvets … Now for some reason this song keeps playing in my mind…

    When I was a little bitty boy
    Just up off-a floor
    We used to go down to Grandmas house
    Every monthend or so
    Wed chicken pie and country ham
    N homemade butter on the bread
    But the best darn thing about Grandmas house
    Was her great big feather bed

    It was nine feet high and six feet wide
    Soft as a downy chick
    It was made from the feathers of forty-leven geese
    Took a whole bolt of cloth for the tick
    Itd hold eight kids n four hound dogs
    And a piggy we stole from the shed
    We didnt get much sleep but we had a lot of fun
    On Grandmas feather bed

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