We're in central MO about 90 miles west of St. Louis. Monday night, 18 Dec., the good husband bogged down in a drift at the beginning of our lane. He changed into his boots (always carries emergency gear including heavy warm boots and change of clothes)to walk the 200 yds to the house. It had snowed all day and the wind was still whipping around. We used the tractor to clear the lane and then pulled his van free of the drift with it.

Tuesday night when he stopped to open the gate he noticed he had a flat tire. He had thought the handling was different because of the snow and the tire was nearly off the rim. Again the snow was blowing and he again had to get down into it to change the tire.

Wednesday night we went to Columbia to get new tires and on the way home it started snowing on us. Luckily we were home before it got treacherous on I-70 (well, it's always treacherous on I-70 but mainly it's the stupid truckers who think you should do 80+ regardless of conditions. I said the STUPID truckers, not all of them).

Last night he got home without incident. After changing into warmer clothes than he usually needs in his office, he fussed about being really sick and tired of all the cold, snow and hassles involved with it. I didn't have the heart to point out it was the winter solstice and we were just beginning winter.

This morning it was zero when I took hot water to the animals that don't have trough deicers. I think I'm tired of it too.

Wishing all the best the season has to offer.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), December 22, 2000

Answers

We are in sw MO...and do we hear you loud and clear! On the bright side of things though, the days are now getting longer...and spring is coming! :)

Hang in there...remember that somewhere there is always someone worse off than you (keep telling myself that too!)

Peace and blessings, Sarah

-- Sarah (heartsongacres@juno.com), December 22, 2000.

I'm tired of it already, too. This is my first winter of delivering newspapers in the very early hours. We are on our 4th snowstorm, and the temps are between 10-20 degrees in the morning, and windy. (I'm moving to MO in a couple years, HA!!, I thought I would be getting away from this cold and snow. I guess it just lasts a lot longer up here.) It's snowing now, we are supposed to get 3-4 more inches. I get out of work at 9pm, so I'm packing boots, etc. YUCK! What was I thinking when I bought a rear-wheel drive truck!??! Be careful out there.

-- Cathy in SNOWY NY (hrnofplnty@yahoo.com), December 22, 2000.

I invite you to come to Michigan - -12 this a.m. with strong winds that is putting the wind chill down so far your skin feels like it will fall off as soon as you are out the door. We should start a David Letterman type thread re: HOW COLD IS IT???? We were so careful about seeing that our water in the house didn't freeze- but now the drain is frozen so we have to carry all the dish water etc. out. Oh well, this too shall pass. Season's best to all - In His Care - diane in michigan

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), December 22, 2000.

I vote skip the whole winter thing starting right now!!!! Our air temp is falling all day and now the wind chill is picking up, by this afternoon we are going to be at2 maybe 4 degrees, oh boy ! cant wait to feed this evening.

-- renee oneill{md.} (oneillsr@home.com), December 22, 2000.

Doesn't hot water freeze quicker? Seems I've heard that before. It's frigid in SE Indiana, too, Brrr, but the sun is shining and it looks so pretty. I really like cold weather, but we got hit earlier than normal and the last few years haven't been normal.

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), December 22, 2000.

Diane asks "HOW COLD IS IT?"...

... when the water I was carrying out for the chickens froze solid, I taped tempered nails to the hen's beaks and told them to deal with it and retreated back to the house :)

(:raig

-- Craig (CMiller@ssd.com), December 22, 2000.

A POSITIVE note about the cold...we are long over due for a serious winter in Colorado and if it stays cold for a while, it will decrease our grasshopper population so I can have a great garden! Happy Holidays...think warm thoughts and gardens!!! DW

-- DW (djwallace@ctos.com), December 22, 2000.

Fun thing to do if it is FREEZING COLD outside. Take a glass of cold water. Go outside and throw the water out of the glass up in the air as hard as you can. Wait and see if when the water comes down if it is frozen! If it is, it is VERY cold outside.

-- Linda (hesscat@cot.net), December 22, 2000.

HOW COLD IS IT? Been colder. Got down to 28 last nigh, but will warm up today, like yesterday, to about 60.

-- (stalkingbull007@AOL.com), December 22, 2000.

OOPS. I didn't know these posts would work without a name. HOW COLD IS IT? Been colder. Got down to 28 last nigh, but will warm up today, like yesterday, to about 60.

-- JLS in NW AZ (stalkingbull007@AOL.com), December 22, 2000.

I saw that on a National Geographic Special, Linda...

... these guys were in Antartica (or maybe it was Buffalo) and they ran outside with a glass of water when the air temp was -43 degrees. They flung the water in the air and it exploded into ice crystals. Pretty neat.

(:raig

-- Craig Miller (CMiller@ssd.com), December 22, 2000.

Extreamly way too cold here in Kentucky. I have 8 cast iron bathtubs out in the different pastures, I use a tennis ball to stop them up. Well, last week we got that huge amount of rainfall overnight, and by morning it was all ice. Needless to say the tubs filled all the way up and now are all solid blocks of ice. The tubs I feed hay in also filled up and are solid. I am slowly running out of buckets, they freeze solid overnight. We aren't even getting above freezing anymore! Now not for another week! 4* this morning with -16 wind chill. Praise the Lord nothing is froze in the house and the outside water pump works still. I put feed bags over top of my water pump handle and then a bucket on top of that with blankets around the bottom. I'm hangin' in there, but I am cold all day untill I go to bed at night. I've had enough allready, is March here yet?

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@msn.com), December 22, 2000.

This winter looks like it is shaping up to be a doozy. Good luck to all you campers up above the Mason-Dixon line; this year even us Rebs are freezing.

No time to write more--got to go cut some more firewood.

-- Rags (RaggedReb@aol.com), December 22, 2000.

Hello from cold and snowy Wisconsin. We are near record for amount of snow on the ground for this time of year. But today was a good day -- the sun shone and it didn't snow nor blow. Never mind the high for the day was 3 degrees . . . .

Now, how about some positive thinking? I have seen any number of years where it has been pretty ugly in December and part of January, but then gets much better. So why don't we think about THAT (and ignoring all the years when that isn't what happens!!!)?

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), December 22, 2000.

yeah Joy!!! I am looking at seed catalogs and thinking about a January thaw and making maple syrup the first week in Feb.!!!!

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), December 22, 2000.

It's cold here in TN, down to 4 degrees this morning. All my water buckets and tubs frozen here too. Still have snow on the ground.

-- Pam Creighton (zpjc5_@hotmail.com), December 23, 2000.