The best winter

I've made a pact with myself this year to not let the dislike of the cold and winter from years past drag me down.  I had to make this agreement with myself in order to keep my sanity for the next few months.  After almost 7 months of winter and then minimal amounts of free time to actually be out in the heat of summer I spontaneously started cursing when I woke up to the first snow fall.  I could not accept that winter had come again.  The warning shot of winter melted, and I realized that I had to change my attitude or I would not make it through this year.

An important aspect of this pact was realizing that I just can't talk to people about the weather ever this winter.  When I'm around someone who hates the cold as much as me I join in on the cold smack talk and feel worse.  If I'm around someone who loves the cold it becomes a conversation stalemate with nothing more to say until the topic changes.  All this week I've been using a lot of humour about the weather to shift the topic and it has been working nicely.

This is all thanks to last week helping to wean me off of my desire for a longer Autumn season.  I spent the majority of my time on the road.  I drove up to Saskatoon with their noticeably higher levels of snow.  With the bright sunshine and warm wind it was a perfect couple of days to get used to the snow again.  Driving then further on to Price Albert I found where winter has been hanging out for much longer.  With Semis Jack-knifed on the highway and an army troop carrier truck on its side in the ditch we were pretty careful on the roads.  It was this gradient of progressively more white as we went up that helped ease me into it rather than the shock of a sudden dump.  On the way back it was just solid snow the whole way.  Winter had snuck back to Regina and set up camp.  But thankfully I had my game plan ready this year for how to cope.

I found my car encrusted by the ice rain and then about 2-3 inches of snow on top. 

I set to work with the first part of my plans.  I now keep my ice scraper in the back seat on the floor.  It seems so simple now.  When I go to get it, the avalanche of snow will land in the back-seat and not the driver's.  I've only had a chance to store my car in garage for winter approximately 3 times in my life so I'm pretty used to having snow on my car but this year I'm purposefully not going to be lazy about removing all of it.  I've got a few other little things planned like lifting the wind shield wipers off the glass at night so they don't cement themselves down. 

I've always been one of those people who doesn't layer enough for the cold, or if I do have enough layers for heat then there is the wind chill factor that sneaks in through every seam.  This year I will not skimp on preparation and layering clothing.  Even if I don't think it is going to be so cold I'm going to always have my big coat, small gloves and mittens, extra layer of either outer shell pants or having some tights on under my clothes.

I'm also think about getting one of these little jaunty ice scrappers but it might not help me stay positive.  Maybe I'll go with an ice scraper that is also something to keep my hand warm.  Keeping my mind off the cold with creative projects and having an emergency stash of scarves (my socially acceptable blankets) will hopefully be enough to make this my best winter.

Please share any ways that you make winter barable, and if you love winter then what aspects do you love?  

#MakesWinterGreat

I don't do winter well. I have an aversion to extreme temperatures, and yet I live in an extreme climate that can drop down to -35C in the middle of the winter and stay there for a week or get colder just for fun. Nothing like the weather saying -40C with a wind chill to make it feel like -52C. I've been outside walking home from the university in temperatures where your skin freezes in under 30 seconds... only getting home and hearing the weather warning about staying inside... great, I hear about it now?

I honestly don't think my family in Australia can even believe that the planet has places that get this cold. I dealt with my ever growing testiness with winter and ranted about it from time to time... but then I went to Mexico in February of 2009 and I realized that we didn't need to live this way. In the time it takes me to drive to my grandmothers I could be flying and landing in a place with palm trees.

Apparently I have become more vocal in my despising of winter... probably a bit unbearable at times.

So this year I've decided to do something different. I'm going to try and focus on all the good things that come about from the season and try to bundle up enough that the wind doesn't get me an make me into a grumpy gusset. I'm using twitter to keep track of them. I have a standby list of things that I thought up a few days ago but I'm mostly going to try and take ideas from my every day life. It is making me feel like I'm a little bit more ready for winter.

Wish me luck