Tuesday, January 27, 2009

January Doldrums

Ryan and Eric


Everything is more difficult in winter weather. For those of you in warm climates, I just want to say: Winter in Nebraska sucks right about January/February. Everything takes longer, because you have to plan for driving conditions, warming the car - which by the way, it's illegal to leave your car running and go in the house - there are a wholelotta folks breaking the law every winter. If you have more cars than fit in your garage - or your garage is too full to fit all your cars - you have to scrape ice from the windows.

Getting kids ready for school requires coats and hats and mittens and tennis shoes for gym in the bookbag - and good luck seeing all those garments again at the end of the school day. We have an odd glove basket in the coat closet. If you lose yet another glove, well, you wear a pair that doesn't match.

And then there's the elementary school lost and found- It's downright amazing what kids lose at school. I'm looking for a few good gloves to match the ones at home, and I need to take a lunch! Hats, scarves, COATS, school sweatshirts, mittens, lunchboxes, Webkins. I understand the hats and stuffed animals, but do parents not notice that their kid came home without his coat? People, it's ten below zero out there!

Of course, because it IS Nebraska, and zero temps are normal, a thirty or forty degree day is cause for leaving all that stuff in the backpack. Whoo hoo, it's summer!

No kidding, if the temp hits 40, you see adults at Walmart in shorts and sweatshirts.

Oh, and one of my biggest peeves - the garage floor. Every time you drive in with all that sand and slush and dirt and ice caked inside the wheel wells, it melts and cakes on the floor. Now, you can either sweep it out while it's wet - yuck - or wait until it dries, which is my method. We are blessed to face the west, so even our driveway dries pretty nicely once it's shoveled and had a little sun - but my friend Barb's driveway has 2 inches of ice on it, as well as 60 pounds if ice melt, and it never melts because she's at the bottom of a hill and seldom gets sun on that side of her house. When I go over, I park on the street and walk through snow in the the yard to the house. I don't know how they get their mail.

Oh, and grocery shopping is a workout in this weather. You're all bundled up, so you have to take your coat off or roast in the store. Then shop, pay, put on your coat, mittens, scarf and TRY TO PUSH A SHOPPING CART over rutted ice and six inches of slush! I always park by a cart return. If you make it to your vehicle, you load the bags while the wind blows your scarf in your face and freezes the inside of your nose. Can anybody relate?

So...ready for spring, anyone?

8 comments:

  1. Oh Cheryl, how I can relate. By the way, I came home to at least 3 1/2 feet of snow still in my yard! When I left Omaha Saturday it was 9 degrees, after a balmy
    -16 below zero earlier in the week. There was a guy on my flight in the shorts and sweatshirt you mentioned! Maybe it's one of your Walmart friends. Spokane was actually warmer at a blistering 11 degrees when I arrived! More snow predicted tonight. Yippee!

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  2. Amen, sister!

    I'm so tired of snow and cold. And you forgot to mention the rest of the garage story. After kids track through that sludge on the way from car to house, they get that salt/sand/dirt/yuck all over my mudroom and manage to drag it through the entire lower level of my home.

    I don't need to vaccuum, I need to excavate.

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  3. Yes, Robin. The kids are tracking all that stuff into the house! And the car gets dirty because I don't want to vacuum in the cold.

    Oh and there's nothing like roasting in your winter coat in the checkout line while you're unloading your cart, watching to make sure everything rings up correctly, loading the cart, watching the two-year-old, handing over your coupons and trying to get the Walmart checker to price match...I get overwhelmed just thinking about it!!

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  4. Cheryl what is wrong with us living here in all this. I can't wait for Spring I think that is why I am getting depressed. Everyone keeps getting sick as a matter of fact I am off today to watch Isabel my daughter is sick with the flu. This is not a good season.

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  5. Cheryl,

    You make a good case for not living
    in Nebraska! I think I'll just stay in Texas where I've lived all my life! BTW, those are really cute babies in the adjoining photos! Congratulations to the happy families! I know Mary is going to be visiting every chance she gets! And I don't blame her!

    Pat Cochran

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  6. Cheryl, I'm right here in Nebraska with you and the older I get the less I enjoy the snow! Not only am I way too cold the injuries from falling on the ice keep taking a toll. On the other hand, the beauty of a white world sparkling in the sun is wonderful. Especially when viewed through the picture window from my easy chiar while reading a good book!

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  7. i already wrote a post this week how i can't take it anymore. 35 below, celius, for crying out loud. it's killing me. you didn't even mention the dry skin thing!!!

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    ReplyDelete