Below WHAT????

So, I've lived in some cold places. (And hot ones, but I try to forget that...) I have to say, though, I've never lived in a place where it is BELOW ZERO EVERYDAY FOR A WEEK!!!! But that's what it's been since last Thursday. Temps drop 20 or more below at night and rise to 3 below during the day. Okay, granted, it rose above zero Sunday and yesterday. But with the wind...well, it still feels about...well, I don't know. When it's below zero it all feels the same: COLD.

So, here is what I have learned over the past week about living in sub-zero temperatures:

• Put a coat on EVERY TIME you go outside!
• 20 degrees above 0 sounds like a heatwave...40 above I'll put on my swimsuit!
• I cough every time I step outside the door.
• Snow doesn't melt: the roads are still 90% covered and the trees still look beautiful as they sag under the weight of the snow.
• Every morning the snow glistens off the ice covered trees...and melts nothing!
• Except on interstates and main county roads, no sand/salt is used - nothing's going to melt anyway!
• It gets into your bones...and takes a while to warm up.
• Drink LOTS of hot chocolate, tea, coffee...and eat soup!
• Drive carefully! You are driving on flattened ice and snow with very little traction.
• Warm your car up - even if you don't plan on going anywhere that day.
• Walk briskly with your shoulders hunched over. (Not sure that really keeps you any warmer, but for some reason everyone does it.)
• You'd still have to pay me a million dollars (or more!) to move back to Texas.