I see by the financial news that the Star Tribune Newspaper has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Minneapolis. That means the company can continue to operate under the supervision of a judge until it can restructure it's finances (mainly it's debt). It becomes a troubling period because all employees are uncertain about their future. I know someone who works for the Star Tribune.
Today is the inauguration of Obama. While truly historic in nature, the "press" has put a racial lens on the event which I think diminishes the change of Presidents. I think he represents all people in our country.
I can only speak for myself, but I have benchmarks in my mind about what represents extreme cold. I spent weeks in December with my Grandpa Jiggs and Grandma Helen at their lodge in the north woods of Wisconsin. It was near Cable, Wisconsin. I was probably 10 years old. The weather would go for weeks with below 0 temperatures. My "benchmarks" were a cold walk down a narrowly shoveled path to the two-hole "outhouse". I still remember the crunching snow and not wanting to sit down on the toilet seat. My second benchmark was going to bed at night in the lodge that was heated only my a central pot stove. It got stoked with wood to get really hot before bed (usually 11:00 PM). Then the stove was allowed to burn down to nothing so that by 5:00 AM it was probably in the low 30 degree temps. You didn't want to get out from under the covers. You could see your breath. Damn it was cold!
Mom had lunch with Nana yesterday. Nana reminised about living on the farm as a child and she recalled the cold. Her benchmarks are more stunning than mine. Her family farm house also had a central stove that was stoked in late evening. She slept with her sister in the same bed under layers of wool covers upstairs. The only heat that reached the bedroom came through a hole in the floor by convection. She remembers getting up in the morning and the water was frozen in the glass by the bed. She actually got frostbite on her cheeks and nose. The toes didn't escape the numbing cold including a condition just short of frostbite. Going to school (always walking) didn't help the toes. She remembers sitting around a stove in school with her feet on a medal plate to get heat into the toes. I can't top those memories for cold.
So as your kids jump into warm beds and are driven in a warm car to a temperature controlled school building, I don't have a lot of sympathy even though wind chills are -30 degrees, I can honestly say you don't know what cold is! Just ask Nana.
The lesson Grasshoppers is that we all have "benchmarks" for what cold means to us. I'm sure you can all relate to personal dramatic stories. It defines miserable conditions to you.
Stay Warm.
Love,
Dad