Snow & Cold

It's October again. The trees are slowing dying, their last words communicated via hues of orange and red and yellow. It's getting cooler, too, down into the 50's and 60's for highs. And who pulled the shades on the sun? It looks like a mid-summer evening at noon everyday. This is the stuff of which fond memories are made, the days of autumns past, the perfect October photo op.

And if you live in Minnesota, it means the first snow is most assuredly on its way.

Last year, we received our first inch of snow on October 6. Though there is no such snow in the forecast today, Old Man Winter has been trying his darnedest to blast us with turbocharged flurries today. It was beautiful outside, more like December than October. It was mildly cold; I use "mildly" as a relative term, since it was only in the mid-30s, with a windchill of about 20. Good Minnesotans know that 35 is not cold, and a windchill of 20 is simply an invigorating breeze.

I like cold. Those of you who have been reading my musings since the summer know that a significant part of me dies every time the thermometer rises above 80. Cold wakes you up in the morning and gets you into a hot shower and off to work more quickly. Cold causes the static metamorphosis of liquids, allowing our ponds to become hockey rinks. Cold also causes our women to be more conducive to cuddling and becoming more smoochy. What palm-shaded sandy beach causes female reactions like that?

But most of all, cold sets you apart. You are automatically different when your loyalties lie below the freezing mark. You laugh because, when the rest of society bundles up in their North Face parkas, you are sitting pretty in your hooded sweatshirt. And heck, if you're being active outside, that's even too warm... jeans and a tee will do. You snicker at the shmuck who just coughed up 50 g's for a four-wheel-drive Escalade and put it in a ditch, as your Escort effortlessly plows through the drifts and safely delivers you to your next destination. And there is nothing like a shirtless toboggan run to get your blood flowing.

Cold is not a problem. And if one insists upon that premise, it's nothing wool socks and a hot cocoa can't fix.

But alas, this premature bout of snow is all but a passing fancy. It will warm up again, to 50 by Saturday, they say. There is still much of a wonderful, crisp, cool autumn left to enjoy.

As Garrison Keillor says, "October is a month for intellectual clarity. Try to keep that in mind. Cold is a stimulant, heat a depressant."