I loved watching Chilly Willy when I was young. The cute penguin always looking for fishies. Good fun. We would always say it’s ‘chilly willy’ out for years and years. Well…it applies today.
There are a lot of folks who have not gone through an Up North winter who scoff at this so called “windchill padding” of temperatures. I always lulz’d at that. Uhhhhh, hokay…you take the cold, a cold that steals your breath when you walk out the door and then add wind. Any wind. 2mph…20mph. It is a cold that it like no other. Luckily, most of us never had to be out in it for long periods of time. But there are some who had to be whether for work or because they just didn’t have anywhere else to go.
Think windchill is bullshit? Go hang out in a Minneapolis homeless shelter for an hour or two and ask the visitors about cold…and then ask them about cold + wind. But sure, folks who haven’t experienced anything near this probably know best. Heeeheee. Silly people.
Our temp’s…and those around us according to all of the pics on The Facebook are cold. Colder than it has been for a while. Now, at Christmas time in Minnesota it was around fifteen below with a decent 20-30mph wind. That was cold. We walked across the street on Christmas Even morning for a McCormick’s breakfast and when the wind hit our faces on the way back to the hotel, well, I ran the rest of the way. Yup. Me…running. Even the Bigg man hotstepped it and that’s as close as he comes to running when not at a competition. True story.
But this morning got my attention. We went out for breakfast before Bigg hit the road for Mexico (yuh, Mexico) and it was cold. School was called off late last week. I’ve seen my fair share of , “When I was a kid we walked to school from the country in 40 degree’s below weather PLUS wind.” First off, shut up. Ok, so you went to school with Laura Ingalls? And you’re still around to tweet about it? Cool. I graduated in 1985 and we had at least two “cold” days that I can remember so if school was called over 30 years ago chances are your school district was keeping an eye out for you too. But before I call anyone an outright liar (which I think you are if you’re saying you walked to school in worse conditions than this) allow me to point out a big difference of your kiddo days and modern yutes.
First off, lots of kids get themselves off to school without Mommy making them a huge pot of oatmeal and a plate full of bacon in the morning. If yours was there making sure you were properly snuggled into your warm weather wear and sorrel boots before you ventured out in your hypothetical cold , congratulations. I hope you appreciate the memories. Since we’re nestled between two Elementary schools; a Middle school; and a High school, we see our fair share of walkers in the morning and in the afternoon. Wearing a sweatshirt, no hats and gloves is actually a normal occurrence around here. Yes, it’s stupid, but it’s reality. Many of these kids live over a mile away from school. I don’t care how dressed for winter you are, a mile walk in 20 below with a 30mph wind will kick your ass. Look, we get it, we are so much tougher than kids today. We win. And these are just the kids in sheltered little ‘tosa.
But this is cold. Dangerous cold. So hunker down, stop pretending we were so much tougher than “kids today” and move on. Really want to prove how tough you are? Get your arse out in that cold and go volunteer somewhere or make some hot toddies for your mail carrier who, by the way, can probably tell you a thing or two about windchill. Thank you mailman for showing up for work all to bring me my junk mail. You’re B.A. Srsly.
Over here? The heat’s on, I’ll get my deload lifting in today and I have a Hungarian Kuvasz who still thinks she’s a Malamute…
I literally have to go drag her in. Silly Dazzle girl. But it does remind me of a post from one of our strong friends who is a Milwaukee cop, keep an eye out for homeless animals too. Real cold animals not nearly as cute as Chilly Willy the penguin.
The climate of Barrow is Arctic. Temperatures range from cold as shit to fucking freezing.
Steve Niles, 30 Days of Night
tosabarbell 