Frigid Temperatures Flash Freeze the Midwest
When I got up this morning, right after I checked my blood sugar (it was 106,) I checked an app on my computer and the temperature was -17°f outside. That’s a pretty good blood sugar for a diabetic, not so much with the temperature, that’s bitter cold. I knew there was severe cold coming, but it was early. I just thought it would get here today rather than overnight.
Then I checked the wind, which was pretty steady at 20 mph. What was the windchill? It was -44°f by the windchill calculation formula that’s currently in use. It’s even worse by the the way the old wind chill index was calculated. That was -62°f, with decimal points that would have rounded up to -63°f.
My Mom would have said, “It cold enough to freeze the balls off a well-digger’s brass monkey!” It’s not an expression I understand in the literal sense, my Mom always said a brass monkey was a tool used by a plumber. I’m not sure that’s correct, certainly the conversation at Quora seems to trend towards a more military origin of the term.
Winter camping and all that…
Can you imagine camping in these conditions? In theory I know how to survive, but I would not want to test that today. In theory I know how to build an igloo too, but once again it’s not something I would like to test this afternoon. It’s that way with a lot of my cold weather camping skills. I knew and practiced cold weather skills when I was younger, not so much today.
When I was with my second wife we did a little winter camping. As long as your sleeping bag is warm enough, it’s not too bad really. I prefer to wear a balaclava in cold weather, it helps to warm the air I breathe, as cold is a known trigger for most asthmatics.
Yep, I have asthma and emphysema. Does it slow me down? Not really. I learned how to care for my lungs a long time ago. I’ve had asthma as long as I can remember, back into early monsterhood. So, when I was diagnosed with emphysema before I turned 40, I got pretty good at preventing things from getting worse.
So there you have it, Monster had no choice, he had take care of his lungs.
Where I Actually Talk About Our Wonder Dog!
Things are pretty tough for Buddy the Wonderdog right now with the bitter cold and about a foot of snow on the ground. He’s struggling out there. There’s a crust on top of the snow, but when he tries to walk he is falling thru the crust, ending up with his belly on the icy crust.
Adding insult to injury, his belly has about as much hair as the top of my head. When he comes inside, I’m waiting there with a towel to get the cold damp off of his underside.
The cold obviously hurts his feet too, after a few minutes outside he starts having a visible limp. That’s our signal to usher him inside where he regains his proper gait in moments. Combine that with windchill and it’s really a wonder he will go outside at all!
Wonder Dog…
Monster does feel bad for Buddy the Wonderdog, but not bad enough to teach him to crap inside on astroturf in a kiddie pool. Right now that’s still a hard limit for Monster.
Buddy’s a real trooper though, he’s still going out and risking it all every couple of hours, like clockwork. Were Monster, or girl, to actually be out in the wilds right now, I figure neither one of them would be real keen to expose everything at -44°f.
I am feeling a bit of “cabin fever” and am wanting to get started on a hiking project. I want to hike the Hennepin Canal Parkway in Illinois from where it empties into the Mississippi River back to where it begins with the Illinois River and then along it’s feeder canal from the Rock River.
The trail begins (or ends depending on your perspective) not far from my house. With that in mind, this is potentially a project I could even get started on this winter. I’ll bet nobody’s ever hiked it on snowshoes…
