Friday, December 07, 2007

Land of the Wind Chill Factor

(any John Prine fans out there who can name that tune?)

Is your local meteorologist the most highly paid member of your local news staff?

Does the weather merit more time and detail than the sports?

Do you know what a wind chill factor is, and does it affect your day to day activities?

At you latest church potluck, was there lutefisk and lefse? If not, was there at least one "hot dish" on the menu?

If you answered "yes" to all of the above, you are a Minnesotan.


Overnight temperatures here are expected to approach twenty below, and we are on the map for a "wind chill advisory" from the National Weather Service. But, as Bob Dylan put it, "it don't take a weatherman to know which way the wind blows." I know it's cold out there. If you live here long enough, you know that when the day, and the evening, is clear, and there is snow cover on the ground, you'd better be ready for COLD.

I don't know if I am. I hope I brought in enough wood.

I am seriously hoping for a "January Thaw". In December, already.

I am also hoping that Sally, my yellow Labrador who is seriously in heat, will just get over it SOON. It's almost tragic, watching her prance around Togo while he turns to me and says, "what's up with that?" The bad part is, I have to go out there and literally drag her away from the newly uninterested party. Pathetic.

Speaking of Togo, added to my daily complicated routine is taking three pills of Doxycycline, burying them in a ball of hamburger, and giving them to Togo with the rest of his food. Twice a day. Only about 25 more days of that.

9 comments:

John Mikes said...

You may see me and Sabu tonight with an illegal smile . . .

Deb said...

Ralph Spoilsport- You got it! Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone.

Welcome to Sand Creek Almanac. :)

arcolaura said...

Well, I do know what a wind chill factor is. These days when setting out to walk downtown, if the wind is behind me, I will turn and walk against it for a few paces just to check whether I'm dressed warmly enough.

R.Powers said...

Man, that is serious cold.
Good luck with your hot Lab.

Anonymous said...

We have to sneak some arthritis medicine into Max's meals. We can grind up the pills and mix it with soft food, but the gel caps he always manages to find in the wad of bread and leave around the house.

I was barefoot outside in the cold this morning (fetching the arthritic dog), but the temp was more like 20 ABOVE rather than 20 BELOW.

Pablo
http://www.roundrockjournal.com

Anonymous said...

Deb: I heard this morning on the radio that much of northern MN was in the -20 range and I thought of you. Here in Bloomington at 8:00 it was only -6.

I'm testing my new embedded link for Blogger comments below - ignore it if it doesn't work!

Tracy @ Outside

RuthieJ said...

Hi Deb,
We had -6 this morning too, but almost no wind. It always seems so much warmer without wind.

Cheese spread is what worked here for "pilling" my dog. Just scoop up a big gobber of cheese with the pill and she'd swallow it right down....she used to stand by the fridge and wait for me to get the cheese container out!

barefoot gardener said...

Man, oh man! No wonder I was so cold earlier today! I purposely don't look at the weather, cuz I don't want to know how bad it is out there. Hehe.

Good luck with the pups...gotta feel for poor Sally. It's tough to want it and not get it. *smile* Gotta feel even worse for poor Togo. It's REALLY tough to not even know what the heck is going on! Poor guy has got to be confused as heck.

Good luck with all the craziness!

Deb said...

Arcolaura- Well, we always get our bad weather from up your way.

FC- You're welcome to come for a visit and experience it!

The hot lab is still bothered, but not quite as intensely. Maybe in a day or so she'll be back to normal.

Pablo- The forecast for next week says highs in the 20's. I'll be out barefoot in tank top and shorts!

Tracy- Good to hear from you again! Our thermometer did end up reading about 20 below. Hard to get moving in weather like this.

RuthieJ- Thankfully there was no wind here either.

I think Togo would gobble a pill down in anything. He's so grateful to get any "treat".

Barefoot Gardener- Yeah, I have to think Togo is kind of wondering "I seem to remember something here...why isn't it feeling right now?" And that poor girl. I think we should have her and Maggie spayed, I don't want to run a breeding outfit here.