Uff dah!

FAOL Community Sound Off
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Uff Dah! Yah it is cold, but us Minnesotans and Cheeseheads (Wisconsin) are use to this happening almost every years. At 10 A.M it is a -5 degrees F (Wind Chill is -15 degrees F). The 24 inches of snow fall over the weekend is now frozen solid, and drivers are learning how to use their battery cables to get their vehicles started (car batteries lose their cranking power as the temperatures drop). Mail Delivery was canceled this weekend, and hopefully the snowplows can start opening the side streets so we get mail delivery today.

Minnesota Vikings will not know, until late on Tuesday, if the Metro Dome’s will be repaired in time for next Monday Night Football Game, when the Chicago Bears are scheduled to play the Vikings at the Metro Dome…

I and 62 years old, and I remember as a 8-year old walking to and from school twice each school day (had to go home for lunch) even in this type of weather. Back then there was no such thing as “Wind Chill Factor”! -5 degrees F, was -5 degrees F! If there was a snow fall over the night time hours, I had to walk the 9 blocks to school walking in the tire tracks of the “Milk Man’s” truck!

We were dressed by our Mother for the weather, with a full set of long john underwear, beneath our corduroy pants, and wool flannel shirts. Snow Pants and Parka Hooded Winter Coat, with thick wool scarf wrapped over our face, and two sets of heavy wool mittens on our hands, and the buckled overshoes to protect our shoes and feet. It took us 10 minutes to get dressed to go outside.

There where no “School Closings” announcements on WCCO Radio (back then there was only AM, FM had not been invented yet!) until the National Weather Service said that the temperature was lower than -32 degrees F!

Some winters we got so much snow, that none of the snow ever melted until sometime in late March! The snow that was plowed from the roads, up on off the roads, would cause snow-piles on the side of the road that would bury the street signs at the street corners, where side street connected to the main road.

I remember my father having to get out the roof rake to pull snow off the roof, otherwise the weight of the snow would cause the roof to collapse, just like what just happen to the Hubert H. Humphrey Metro Dome!

…and when it was cold enough that there was a “Official School Closing” for our school on WCCO (AM) radio, we were so excited that we had a “Snow Day”, we could not wait to go outside and go sledding down “Dead Man’s Hill” on our Toboggan! ~Parnelli :smiley:

PS: Minnesota’s Vehicle License Plates have the motto “Land of 10,000 Lakes”, I always felt that instead the License Plates motto should be,"Minnesota! The Land of Two Seasons!" (Winter’s Coming, Winter’s Here)!

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Yep[, Parnelli, similar to when I grew up in Iowa.

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Steve,

You guys really only have two seasons! Ice In and Ice Out seasons or 9 months of snow with 3 months of poor sledding!!! As I type this master piece of wit, it’s a toasty 29 degrees outside. I might have to break out the sun tan lotion if it gets above 32 degrees. Enjoy the “cooler” weather while you can, because before you know it It’ll be 60 degrees and then you’ll be complaining aboot da heat!!!

Best regards, Dave S.

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Parnelli, doesn’t sound much different than Rigby, ID. Schools have already been closed about 5 days due to weather.

Kelly.

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Well, you guys have all of our winter. It’s 60* in the Denver area right now and I just heard that the lake at Scout Camp has no ice on it anymore. The lake is at 9000’ next to the Continental Divide. No ice. Incredible.

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I lived on the North Shore of Lake Superior for the 90’s. We ususally had at least 3 weeks of minus 30(celsius) to minus 40 each winter. I believe -40 Cel and -40 Farenheit are the same. When it went below minus 25 we stopped ice fishing. Four feet of snow was our average for the year. It came in the first week of November and one year stayed until almost June. Ice-out was not until the end of the first week of May. I would go back and live there in a heart-beat (if I was 15 years younger).

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Believe it or not hot weather claims about as many batteries as cold does. Here, when it hits about 100 degrees, batteries die left and right. Of course it was 13 here this morning, so many of them died a chilly death also.

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Gee. It’s 65 degrees F here and mostly sunny. Of course, it was 45 overnight. I’m in shorts and a cotton t-shirt and a little sweaty. LOL.
I remember riding into Bloomington MN on April 1, 1963 on a Harley and it snowed 7 inches that day. I thought it was just an April Fool
joke my buddy played on me. I didn’t warm up until I moved to Norman OK 3 months later.

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Steven,

Funny you mention all of that, I am originally from Michigan and I was telling my kids the other day how lucky they are not having the winters that I grew up with. The winters have been mild for the last 20 years or so compared to when I had to walk to school (that was 32 years ago when I last walked) Or did they just seem harsh because I had to walk to school…??? I can remember there was always a couple of feet of snow all winter long on the ground. I also had to walk in the tire tracks from the cars & trucks because the sidewalks were never cleaned off early in the morning, I never had the pleasure of taking a bus to school like most kids today. Now if you wanted to get to school fast you would wait at the stop sign for a car to come along so you could bumper hitching a ride to school, that’s when they had good bumpers on cars, (BIG steel bumpers) the good old days, sure miss them [FONT=Wingdings]J[/FONT]

But for today’s weather is seem like it is taking a full circle and starting to experience the good old winters once again. It has been colder down here in Nashville then back home in Michigan were my folks live. It snowed here yesterday anywhere from 1” to 5” within the Nashville area, now that is crazy for this time of the year. Oh well I guess I need to make plans to move south once again. [FONT=Wingdings]J[/FONT]

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Hold your breath Kevin. You’ll get yours. Isn’t even Winter yet. :mrgreen:

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Uff… McGarthwaite you need to put a sen on the end of your name as in McGarthwaitesen. :wink:

Cold Winters

I heard once about a Norwegian feller named Ole who lived way up there in northern Minnesota, somewhere real close to the Wisconsin border, I guess. After years and years of farming, he decided to put the farm up for sale. He called a realtor in town, who told him he would come out to the farm to help set a price and fill out all the paperwork. When Ole met with the realtor, among the many details to take care of, the realtor told Ole “we’ll need to get a survey of the farm” and when everything is ready, I’ll be back for some final paperwork. When the time came, the realtor guy called up Ole to set up a time to visit and get that last paperwork stuff all done. As they were chatting on the phone, the realtor happened to mention the survey and said to Ole, “You know, something funny happened here, when the survey and the legal description came back, it said that you actually live in Wisconsin. Hah, and to think that all this time we thought your property was in Minnesota. Don’t that just beat all?”, to which Ole replied “Really? Well, I tink maybe I von’t sell the farm after all, ya know. It was dose doggone cold Minnesota vinters I was trying to get avay from.”

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It was -29 here at 6:00 this morning, but nI’m sure it cooled off after that!

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It’s been drier than a popcorn f*rt around here. N snow, no rain, nothing but a bit of wind and lots of sunshine. I went out and worked on the wife’s car this afternoon and was quite comfortable without a jacket. It is truly unusual for the good weather to last this long. First snow is usually around late September, early October. It’s supposed to be even warmer tomorrow.

Guess I’ll have to go wet a line tomorrow. :cool:

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I haven’t thought of buckle overshoes since I left northeastern North Dakota. I remember the trials of getting dressed to go outside in the winter, itchy wool long johns, cord pants or flannel lined pants, flannel shirt, snow pants, itchy wool scarf, parka with hood and an itchy wool hat just to be sure. Getting those overshoes off in the school cloakroom was a real pain. Fingers were so cold they didn’t work well and the buckles on the overshoes were usually clogged with ice and snow.

Take all that time to get dressed to go out and…you gotta go to the bathroom once your dressed. Don’t forget, the bathroom, really isn’t where you take a bath, it’s the little house out back with a moon cut in the door and a Sears or Montgomery Ward catalog next to the well sanded seat. Man, those were some cold trips. Oh yeah, baths were in a galvanized tub in the middle of the kitchen. Hot water was heated on the stove, then a new kettle full was added for every family member that took a bath. Only the first, usually, Mom, got clean hot water. I felt sorry for the youngest kids from large families. They often got dirty as well as cold water.

REE

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I spent WAY too many years in South Dakota to forget those winters… We celebrated Spring &/or Fall if they happened to fall on a weekend… we’d have a neighborhood wide picnic! Parnelli, get out of there! Best Regards…

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Hey Ron,
Thanks for the memories; Oh yeah, baths were in a galvanized tub in the middle of the kitchen. I remember that galvanized washtub in the middle of the kitchen. I also remember Mom giving me a shampoo while I was laying on the drainboard with my head over the sink. I think Truman was president then.

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jimsnarocks,

Feel for ya man, what with sweatin and all! Just crank up the AC and you’ll be just fine. Some iced tea and a nice shady spot under a tree couldn’t hurt either! Maybe you’ll get some relief from the blistering heat by January! Stay cool buddy!

Best regards, Dave S.

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Last week we had our two days of winter…highs in the 50s and a FRIDGID 24 degrees overnight…

I HAD TO WEAR A LONG SLEEVED SHIRT!!! I even drove to work with the truck window cranked up…hadn’t closed it months, wasn’t sure it would work.

But it hit 80 today, so things are back to normal.

We may see a couple of more days of winter this year, global cooling and all, with the forecast for rain and overnights in the 30s late this week. Still forecasting in the mid 70s for the weekend though.

Dealing with all this cold weather is sure a drag. Wife wants me to consider turning off the cooler and actually lighting the heater (didn’t know we had one…then I found out that that big squared off metal thing next to the water heater is a forced air heating thingy for the house)…I’m considering it if we get any more of these goshawful overnight lows in the 30s.

Do you know I’ve had to put on long pants TWICE this winter!! Worst one in decades.

You guys enjoy your snow. :wink:

Buddy

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Buddy Sanders,

I’m really surprised you didn’t wax the skis or crank up the snowblower & snowmoble or at least prop up the ol’ snow shovel, outside the garage, just in case of a freak Siberian Express? Too late now though! Looks like you only had a window of about 24 hrs. to enjoy all that Winter has to offer! Better luck next year! Now, I happen to know first hand that you can drive to your “winter” in probably less than an hour! I seem to recall a trip I took to Tucson in July of 87, where folks were being warned about the mountain passes and having tire chains. Sound familiar? HMMMMMM? LOL!!! It may get waaay down to 80 degrees, but don’t worry, I hear it’s a “dry” cold. Dress warm!!!

Best regards, Dave S.