Today, I'm glad I don't live in Duluth

Duluth Minnesota is one of my favorite places on earth. In fact the whole North Shore ranks right up there. But today, I'm happy with our cold April rain and high winds. Northern Minnesota/Duluth is having a major blizzard with 50mph winds driving over a foot of snow with more snow on the way. A gale warning is posted for Lake Superior where waves up to 16 feet are expected. Thousands are without power.

HOWEVER, I'd really, really like to be holed up in a cabin with wood heat and hot coffee, and just sit and watch Mother Nature and powerful Lake Superior in action. That lake just speaks the language of my soul and I can't wait to go back. It must be in top form today.

Addendum at 9:30pm: it's snowing here too. Drat.
Addendum #2: this morning everything was coated with cold snow and the gray wind is harsh. For obvious reasons the pretty spring birds are hiding and the only ones visiting our trees are the scary crows and blackbirds. This Spring is starting to feel like a Steven King novel.

A Happy List Challenge! Yea!!!!!

From Kirelimel who correctly has turned my thoughts to happier things:





Favorite childhood swimsuit
Mine was also red, white, and blue. One of those one-pieces doing an impression of a two-piece.

Favorite summer thing to do in Elementary school
Swim at the local pool and buy root beer barrels at the concession stand. Also get together with my extended family for picnics. I and some combination of cousins would end up doing weird things that we found wildly entertaining, like fishing using cigarette butts as bait. We never caught a thing - wonder why?

Favorite summer thing to do in high school
Lay around - what a lazy lot we were! Of course I had a job, but my free time was my own. We liked to show up at our friend AA's house right around lunch time because her Mom made the most amazing food. Anything that involved my friends and laying around.

What smell really takes you back to summers gone by?
Sun tan oil.

What's the first thing you'll grill when it warms up?
Chicken breast, pounded thin and marinated with some pineapple slices thrown in - if you haven't grilled pineapple yet what are you waiting for? Or some juicy rib eyes.

What is your level of gardening and what will be first in the ground this spring?
My level of gardening can best be described in one word: mediocre.
I've got some great stuff going, and considering I started with a bare lot, that's not bad. I always choose things you can't kill and that don't need much attention. Therefore I love hostas, lilies, flowering bushes, etc. However I might try my hand at an actual tea rose this summer.
First thing in? That would be tomatoes, basil, peppers, and cilantro into my patio barrels. I make great bruschetta, and that fresh basil makes all the difference.

OK, I'm just plain bored now

Am I bored or really depressed? That's the big question today. I'm sick of this weather - more single digits. I'm sick of being cold. I'm sick of making dinner for kids who complain no matter what I cook. My clothes all bore me stiff. I'm ready to burn my parka. My van is just plain dirty and gross, but it's too cold to clean it out. I've got a small migraine that won't go away. Pinching pennies is starting to hurt my fingers. All I want to do is curl up on our comfy couch and nap until late April.

Addendum: it's a whole 6 degrees right now. It was 7 BELOW when I went to work this morning. Will someone please dial up Minnesota and let it know it's MARCH?

Guess some folks just like the cold

From our local news:
A 22-year-old St. Cloud woman is in custody -- after authorities found her allegedly riding a bicycle around St. Cloud with a shotgun strapped to her back. The woman is a convicted felon and there was also a warrant out for her arrest. She's being held on charges of felon in possession of a firearm and carrying a firearm in a public place. Authorities got a call at about 11:15 last night, saying a person was riding a bicycle near 3rd Street North and 16th Avenue North with a firearm on his or her lap.


Apparently, it's not too cold for a little bike ride. Gives new meaning to drive-by shooting. Maybe it's a new Winter Olympic event and she's just training. I'm surprised the gears work in these temps. St. Cloud is an hour north of me, meaning even colder.

A Sad Cold Day

We made a very sad and adult decision today. Given our current state of financial crisis, we have canceled Spring Break in Myrtle Beach SC. We belong to bluegreen vacation club, and last October put our points in for a nice condo on the beach in late March. So the lodging is paid for, but we just don't have the cash to get there nor to continue eating each day, which is kind of important to us. We made our announcement to the kids and they were incredibly calm and reasonable about it. It's all the more crushing since we have nothing to look forward to right now but more bone-achy cold Minnesota winter.


One option is to take the kids to the Wisconsin Dells, but frankly I'd rather chew on tin foil. Just looking at the pic reminds me what it involves - gross, fat, white Midwesterners in ill-fitting swimsuits - and that's just my husband and I. It also means sharing space with 154,000 other kids and their screams, saggy swim diapers, and toe jam. And each day will entail at least one trip to the outrageously over-priced snack bar to have cranky teens sell me nachos and corn dogs. I can feel the heartburn now.

I need the ocean, I need the sand, I need the sun, I need to go barefoot, I need fresh seafood, I need warm salty air, I need grits and shrimp, I need to sleep with the windows open and hear the waves. Not this year I guess.

Doing Jack Shit

I'm on my second day of doing diddley-squat. I haven't been called in to sub and I'm left to my own devices. Yesterday I slept in until 8:30, read the paper, did some laundry, sorted said laundry, and picked up the downstairs. Did I mention that my family is a bunch of pigs? I was gone all day Sunday at twin #1's volleyball tourney and the house went to pot. To top off my lazy spree we ordered pizza for dinner. We had collected some very fine coupons and got 4 pizzas for $10.

Today I'll do more never-ending laundry. May even make a batch of cookies. I'd go for a walk but the air hurts. Our high today will be about 8 above. This afternoon I plan to nestle on the sofa for about an hour of reading. For tomorrow its back to work.

This must be what it's like to be George W. Bush, except without the airplane rides to my next vacation.

If you're a Mom, or just play one on TV, you'll love the book pictured above.

Frozen again

It's cold again. Current temp is 8 below. That's without the windchill. Why do we live here?????

Aren't we wonderful???

Seems like everyone is blogging about their cooking skills these days, so I thougt I'd chime in. This is our Saturday here in Minnesota, and our cooking endeavors. First off, it's butt-numbing cold again. The wind is shrieking around the house like agitated abortion clinic protestors. Looks like a snow-globe out there. This photo depicts our fire pit with cooking irons.

So since it's so cold, we made a pan of baked beans with bacon on top. When survival is paramount, we go straight for the high fat foods. Yes, of course we have good central heat but you just never know up here so you'd better fatten up good. You know what happened to the Donner party.


Next we decided that fattening up meant sugar cookies. And in honor of Valentine's day they'd better be heart-shaped.


While the kids continued to roll out dough, I checked on the food supply in the garage. While there I made sure the van was still as dirty as could be - yep! Still dirty as hell and covered in road salt. You can hear the rust laughing at me if you listen really close.


See the piles of mud, crud, road salt, and snow on the garage floor? Here in the frozen tundra we call that car poop. It's a pain to sweep and shovel out. It turns black and slick, like oil but with absolutely no value on the export market. This photo is a mild pile of car poop - it's usually about 6 inches deep.


Finally the cookies were done. In my younger days, I would have fussed over them and created little creative marvels. But I have kids and hence many of my standards are in the toilet. So I just quickly frosted them and let the 8-year-old do the sprinkles. Third graders are much too liberal with embellishments - those sugary bb's are now all over my floor.


That's pretty much our Saturday. I also dyed my hair and we watched Urban Cowboy on TV in between cookie batches. Aren't we just something special????

We're havin a heat wave!

The temp is up to 19 above, and projected to reach into the 20s this weekend. I'm ready to hose down the patio furniture, get out the shorts, and start grilling some steaks. Anyone for a cold Corona with lime? Whew! It's a hot one.

When will this stop??

Don't mean to keep harping on this, but our weather is just dramatically cold and dangerous. From weatherunderground: Tonight Windy. Partly cloudy. Lows around 15 below. Northwest winds 20 to 30 mph decreasing to 15 to 20 mph after midnight. Wind chill readings 27 below to 37 below zero.

My skin hurts, and the fire in the fireplace has all the warmth of a lit match.

THIS is why we're crazy up here

From our local news:
Nearly a 60 degree drop in temperatures is expected from this afternoon to Wednesday morning! An Arctic cold front will sweep across the area tonight dropping temperatures back in the deep freeze. Readings will be in the middle 30s around midnight and will fall to around 20 degrees by sunrise and below zero by Tuesday evening. Wind chills will drop close to -35 degrees Tuesday evening. Temperatures will fall into the double digits below zero by Wednesday morning and may struggle to climb very far above zero Wednesday afternoon.

Today was lovely - around 40 degrees. And now we'll get slapped again with the freezing temps. Winter for the most part I can take. I just can't take these frigid temps. It's too painful on my old bones.

Only in Minnesota

Watch this video. This is what deep winter does to folks up here.

Seen in every corner of Minnesota today

I've always wanted one of these hats, and today I'll REALLY want one. Our temp right now is 13 below. As my sis said the other day, it's amazing how the teenagers still leave my house in this weather dressed in the absolute minimum while I'm needing long johns and electric socks. I've bumped the heat up to an incredible global-warming Republican-like 70 degrees and it's still uncomfortable.

Why do we live here? Outside of this, the weather here is usually beautiful and keeps us on our toes with it's variety. You haven't lived until you've seen an enormous midwestern thunderstorm come rolling in over the plains. Or walked in the falling snow at night.

Just keep my toes from freezing and I'll enjoy the frozen sunny skies.

We're home safe and sound

We're home after a harrowing drive from Decorah, Iowa. To say it was snowing heavily puts it mildly. We had no business being on the road. During the stretch of Hwy 52 in Rochester MN, there were several accidents. I don't mean just cars in the ditch, I mean pile-ups involving several cars and emergency vehicles. Two such multi-car incidents involved an ambulance. The highway was like a skating rink. Several cars were crashed into guard rails with the drivers in them, talking on the phone. Probably being told by the 911 operators that they'd get right to them ASAP.

Return of the Ice Bowl

This weekend's NFL playoff game between the Green Bay Packers and the New York Giants will most definitely be a return of the ICE BOWL. The predicted high at Lambeau Field is 4 above.

On December 31, 1967, the Packers played Dallas at Lambeau Field in Green Bay during one of the coldest days on record. The daytime high reached -13 degrees with a windchill around 48 below.

From wikipedia: The bitter cold overwhelmed Lambeau's new turf heating system, leaving the playing surface hard as a rock and nearly as smooth as ice, but many believe Packer coach Vince Lombardi turned it off. The officials were unable to use their whistles after the opening kickoff. As the referee blew his metal whistle to signal the start of play, it froze to his lips. For the rest of the game, the officials used voice commands and calls to end plays and officiate the game.

Several players, including Dallas defensive tackle Jethro Pugh and Green Bay quarterback Bart Starr, still claim to suffer occasional mild effects of the frostbite they developed that day. Dallas quarterback Don Meredith came down with pneumonia after the game and was hospitalized on his return to Texas.

Furthermore, the UW - La Crosse Marching Chiefs band were supposed to perform the pregame and halftime shows. During warmups in the brutal cold, the woodwind instruments froze and wouldn't play, the mouthpieces of brass instruments got stuck to the players' lips, and seven members of the band were transported to local hospitals for hypothermia. The band's performances were canceled.

My husband has a video of this day and it looks downright brutal. All those cheeseheads in thin scarves and thinner shoes. They stood outside in the horrid weather without goretex, polypropylene, electric hunting socks, or those little miracles in a bag called hand warmers. I like football but I'm not an idiot. Tune in on Sunday just to see what people are wearing. Don't you just KNOW one guy will have a naked painted chest.

It's just so awfully COLD!

Our high today was 5. And with the windchill, I believe we are in the -10 range. It hurts to be outside. But from INSIDE, it's really beautiful. On these extreme cold winter days in Minnesota, the sun is so bright and perfect, and the snow is a crisp unbelievable white. So here's to the inside, central heat, hot coffee, and long johns - long may they wave!