What do you do when it's FREAKING cold??

My first winter in Winterpeg. The notorious winters of this Prairie-edge city... There is no joking, no "blown out of proportion" comments - and in my mind - no such thing as "it's a dry cold"... -35 degrees is FREAKING cold. It can be more tolerable than -35 degrees in Ontario - but that's mostly because of the amount of sun that Winnipeg gets ALL year round. There is no break in January. You don't have the dreary days of February that Ontario feels cursed with. Majority of days - BIG BLUE skies. This is the first big saving grace of Winter in Winnipeg.

Second saving grace - this city and it's people are built for it. There's a long building-to-building walkway down town so you don't have to spend as much time outside. There are outlets in almost all parking lots so your car can be plugged in and not freeze in place. There are people going about their business ALL THE TIME. And because they don't let it stop them... how could I let it stop me? Exactly, I didn't. I just continued on with my life - and increased my layers in order to do what I wanted to do.

Inside info - I like wearing skirts/dresses to work at least twice a week. And, I decided that this "winter thing" wasn't going to interrupt my routine. So, at first I started wearing wind-breaker pants over my nylons/tights and skirts/dress - and then it got upgraded to full-out snowpants. And then... on really cold days - I wore my snowpants over my pants! On the coldest of cold days - I even wore my balaclava to work.

This is not to say that I didn't enjoy some periods of hibernation... I had a couple of weekends where the only thing that could get me out of my apartment was the need to get groceries.

For my period of hibernation, I would like to thank Netflix for coming to my rescue. I know a lot of people have commented that there aren't enough "blockbuster" titles... but apparently, I'm not a "blockbuster" kind of movie watcher! There are a TON of GREAT titles on Netflix! I've really enjoyed having all these movies/shows at my fingertips! Besides - who would want to rent movies while hibernating?? You'd still need to go outside to get them - AND - return them!

The other survival tactic I used through the winter - I found things to do. And these weren't just INDOOR activities! As you'll see from some of my winter blog entries - I went out and about!

Here are some of the observations that I found interesting - in comparison to my Ontario background... The snow here STAYS. The first snow, just after Remembrance Day stayed on the ground until EVERYTHING melted in the spring. (A couple of weeks ago). In Ontario, there is always a melt or two throughout the winter. You see grass. You get these glimmers of hope that winter could actually end in January (as fruitless as you know that hope to be). Not here. The snow falls, the snow stays. Gets a bit compacted. More snow falls. And so on. The good part about this - all winter it's white. Not as grey/mushy as it gets for days in Ontario. And, the best part, you only have to deal with thawing dog crap ONCE. :)

People talk about the weather no matter where you are. And I can't tell you the number of times I was asked if it was cold enough for me... But, people don't complain as much about snowfall. Mostly, because especially this winter, Winnipeg didn't see nearly as much snow as Southern Ontario. (Poor London!)

A new winter term that I learned... "Deep freeze"... It's the winter version of a "heatwave." It's when it remains below -30 or 35 for days at a time... There were some parts of Manitoba who, during one of these deep freezes, had night after night of -45 degree warnings. Now, just so you know, there are some people here who don't believe in "windchill"...! I find this impossible. There is DEFINITELY a difference with the wind...and Windypeg DEFINITELY has wind!!! I just checked the Weather Network and the coldest temp between Dec 1 and April 1 was -30 degrees. But the windchill could change a temperature reading by 10-15 degrees. So, I don't think this is accurate. But, it is what it is. (BTW - the -30 was recorded on Jan 29. And the highest temp in that range - +5 degrees).

All in all... I got through it. Now, there was snowfall on Friday and yesterday, but it's gone today. And that's all that counts. :)

I'll leave you with one of my favourite winter sights. Someone flipped perfectly into the snow along the river path. I found his imprint on my way to the grocery store one day. I was just impressed at how well executed it was... and then as I continued along the path, I found some of his practice attempts! :)