Friday, January 4, 2013

The Heavenly Warmth of Twenty Degrees

Twenty degrees never felt as warm as it did this afternoon. It was 2:15 and I went outside; it was twenty degrees, but the sun was shining brightly and it actually felt warm. It was a much different sensation than at 7:30 this morning when it was minus 22 degrees!

It's just the latest in a stretch of extremely cold mornings, with no end in sight.

Thursday morning was minus 18; Wednesday was minus 19; and Tuesday was minus 7. Tuesday's high temp was the highest in the last four days at 26; the past three days the high has been 24.

And all of these mornings have been days when I worked overnight at the hotel, meaning I'm driving home when it's the absolute coldest, about 7:15 a.m.

I start my car early and go back inside to let it warm up, and going the few steps from the hotel to the car and from the car to the house isn't that bad, as long as I'm bundled up. But Wednesday was trash day, and in the three or four minutes it took me to roll the trash can to the curb, my face got so cold, I couldn't believe it happened that quickly. I was wearing gloves and a coat, of course, but my face was exposed.

We had to laugh last night when we watched the 10:00 news. The weather guy predicted Taos would have a low of minus 4 and it was already minus 12!

Someday Spring will come. Heck, someday it will get above freezing.

In the meantime, I'll go outside in the afternoon when the sun is shining and revel in the warmth of twenty degrees.


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! I'm unable to imagine that level of coldness. Your post reminds me of the short readings they have on All Things Considered. Has the same kind of rhythm. Maybe you should submit it.
Love from sunny California. T&W

Elle said...

Baby, that IS cold outside. Stay as warm as you can and I'll remember not to whine when our low is a relatively warm 28. Bet there are doggies loving the cold.

Barbara said...

I hope there won't be a natural gas shortage as happened that other year (wasn't last year, was it? year before?) when it was so cold.

It never gets that cold here, fortunately, but a few years ago when it got in the low teens, I went out to move my car in the morning shortly after showering, and my hair was still wet. I was wearing a hat, but the ends of my hair that weren't under the hat froze between the time I walked out the front door and the time I got to the car. That was weird. I'm sure you never go outside with wet hair!

Last winter was so warm here that I felt annoyed on the relatively few occasions when I had to put on gloves and a hat when I went out. Colder this year, but like Elle, I'll try to remember not to whine!

Beth said...

The gas shortage was two years ago - February 2011. Last winter was warmer here, too; it never even got below zero.

The two big dogs are loving it; they love staying out there and sleeping on the ice/snow. Brutus, who is very short-haired, goes out to do his business and runs back to the sliding glass door and taps on it frantically so we'll let him back in.