Why do I hate winter?

[mattw]

I am only 55, but when I was a kid and into my university years we farmed a small family farm and I learned my hatred for winter and all things that came with it. We had cattle and chickens, keeping them alive thru winter was my job. I was also responsible for keeping drives open, this meant time on a cabless diesel tractor with a heat houser, bucket and blade. Sometimes it was cold enough to gel the fuel and that meant dragging the salamander to the tractor and applying lots of heat, while being cold.

Keeping the livestock tank thawed was a huge pain with a kerosene drip heater. I found this article and it about summed it up. Our tank heater was the same design, but older and very cantankerous. Many times the wind would suck the flame out and leave way to much fuel in the bottom ring, it had to be burned out when that happened. Each morning around 6 I would either get it lit or add fuel and add water and each evening it was the same routine. Drip rate and chimney damper had to be set for the current conditions, the damper would prevent the flame from being sucked out by wind and drip rate made up for the outside temperature.

This article really summed up the frustration with the tank heater and is pretty will written.
https://www.garystrattonfirefighter.com/2016/05/23/light-dammit-light/

[country gent]

I agree with you mattw, Always seemed like the coldest nastiest night was when the sows decided to drop or something would get in the chickens. out in the weather snow sleet rain wind cold. Plowed cleared a lot f driveways on an old 400 international open tractor front end loader and blade. No cab or heat houser though. We did use the electric floating tank heaters though.

One plus was after chores and clearing our drive I would head up the road to my then girlfriends later my wife families house and plow their driveway out. Bonus was some time and sympathy with her LOL.

[RU shooter]

The winters of youth weren't too bad except for plowing the driveway which was 3/4 mile long spent Many hours on our old Ford tractor with a back blade plow . I enjoyed it though as a kid it was fun and the cold didn't bother you as much then . But it always amazed me how a perfect running car or truck can pick the oldest and most snowy days to break ! Usually the fix involved laying in the snow under the dang thing with every part that you needed to fix caked with ice . About my mid 20's I said to myself the next place I live is gonna have a garage 52 now and still parking on gravel in the drive way :)

[white eagle]

I love winter
all the people that hate winter are inside
I get the hunting all to myself
I love winter and at 63 I will always love it

[Winger Ed.]

We don't really have much of a winter here.
If it snows at all, its only 2-4 inches, and most of it is gone the same day or next day.

For us, winter is just wet and miserable with a damp wind that seems to blow right through you.
For winter sports, all we have is to go outside and get sick.

The other day, it got a little below 40. I told the Mrs. if I appreciated being that cold, I'd go back to Maryland or New Jersey.

[Idaho45guy]

I love winter as well.

When I lived in the Midwest, I hated it. Just awful bitter cold, freezing rain, massive snow drifts, and a bleak frozen landscape of misery.

Here in the Northwest, it is beautiful and peaceful.

[Shawlerbrook]

I don’t mind winter now that I am retired and have all day to fight it.

[lightman]

I've only lately learned to see the beauty of snow and Ice. As a Lineman, snow and ice = long hard hours out in it. Now in retirement I enjoy seeing a nice snowscape. I still feel for those out in it.

[dtknowles]

When I turned 18 years old I moved from Maine to Florida. I would go back to Maine for a week or two in the winter to visit family, ice fish or snowmobile or ski or snowshoe or whatever if the weather was decent but a couple weeks of cold and snow is enough. Winter should be short. I have lived in the southern half of the country ever since.

Tim

[mattw]

Just to add a little context... my entire winter life has been spent in east central IL and winter here is nasty! Always wind, always cold and when it snows it just goes like hell in one direction. The snow gets dirty and nasty looking and just will not go away. Our winters have moderated in the ast 10+ years and for that I am thankful.

[gwpercle]

Because you live in the frowzen Nawth .
If you are like me I encourage global warming ... the other thing will be another ICE AGE ... your state was covered with ten feet of ice ...try farming ice ... global warming ...yes !
Come spend the Winter in South Louisiana . I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen snow falling and stay on the ground . This morning it was 41 degrees F , that is our cold ...we call it freezing but it ain't ...now it's 55 degrees F ! I can live with that ... I was picking lemons & satsumas a few minutes ago wearing a T-shirt .
You just got born in the wrong place !

[dtknowles]

..........I was picking lemons & satsumas a few minutes ago wearing a T-shirt .
You just got born in the wrong place !

It's got nothing to do with where you are born it is all about where you choose to live.

Tim

[dannyd]

What's Winter?

[richhodg66]

I actually like it better than I used to. Always was a hot weather guy, but have gotten to where the extreme heat isn't as fun as i used to be, not to mention bugs.

Spent most of my adult life in the Army which involved living out in the elements for extended times, that's where I learned to dislike cold, but now that I don't have to be in it, I like it better.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

A nice hot woodstove makes winter a whole lot better!

[Gewehr-Guy]

Mattw, I'm just a few years older than you, and I had a propane tank heater in the stock tank, miserable ***. I would have liked to try one of those fuel oil ones like you used, but it would probably have blown out every night, just like the propane one did ! I then went backwards in technology and found an old cast iron "Cowboy" coal fired tank heater. Nobody sold coal anymore, so I burned wood in it, had to fill it several times a day, so it kept me pretty close to home when it was really cold. I finally replaced it with a modern plastic ,electric waterer, and solved that headache.

But my most hated job was shoveling out the cement feed bunks after they drifted full of snow, sometimes the first ones were half full by the time you finished the last one, then start over again. A pitchfork fit my hands a lot better than a #16 scoop shovel.

The best part of winter was after chores were done, I would hunt jack rabbits, for you see I imagined myself a hide hunter,and as the buffalo were all gone, I had to settle for jacks instead. I remember selling them for 50 cents apiece, not much but Thunderbolt's were 69 cents a box, and used Dad's gas when we spotlighted them at night. Fun times.

[Winger Ed.]

A nice hot woodstove makes winter a whole lot better!

My parents thought so too.
At least until I left home and wasn't there to chop trees, stack wood, then go out in the rain to get it.:bigsmyl2:
After that-- the gas log thing went from being thought of as an extravagant expense, to becoming a bargain.

[dverna]

We had our first real snow on the weekend. 8-10”. Latest I can recall for snow. We get 120-140” a year.

After the snow stopped, I got into the tractor to clear it. About half way through the shear pin on the blower broke. I have 3-4 extra I bought months ago....but could not find them.

During the storm, we lost power for 6 hours. Last spring I had a generator installed and we were up and running in less than a minute.

Sunday PM went into town to get more shear pins. Got about 7 miles and turned back. Roads were bad....not worth it

Sitting here watching the fire. Been through 1 1/2 cords and have another 5-6 cords in totes in the garage. Nice not having to go out and fetch wood during the worst of winter

I like winter. Been in FL in the summer.... will take winter anytime.

[alamogunr]

I graduated college in December, 1964. Drove from Tennessee to Northern Ohio on New Years Day, 1965 for my first job. Endured a northern Ohio winter until March and was looking forward to spring. Got transferred to Lansing, MI in mid March. Still winter up there for at least another month. Spent 3 years there and was given the opportunity to transfer back to Tennessee. That was in the middle of summer of 1968. Stayed here ever since.

Now 78 years old and even the Tennessee winters are disagreeable. Went to the range a few weeks ago during the first cold spell we had. Didn't think to load all my magazines before I left home. Thought my fingers were going to fall off before I got back in the truck and turned on the heater. I bet it was not below 40º. Some here would laugh at that. I wasn't laughing.

[dannyd]

Just to add a little context... my entire winter life has been spent in east central IL and winter here is nasty! Always wind, always cold and when it snows it just goes like hell in one direction. The snow gets dirty and nasty looking and just will not go away. Our winters have moderated in the ast 10+ years and for that I am thankful.


You are right about the Winter there: got married in St. Louis in December 1978 coming from Florida you would think I was a the North Pole. FYI: I have been to the Arctic Circle and it's warmer there too.

[dannyd]

We had our first real snow on the weekend. 8-10”. Latest I can recall for snow. We get 120-140” a year.

After the snow stopped, I got into the tractor to clear it. About half way through the shear pin on the blower broke. I have 3-4 extra I bought months ago....but could not find them.

During the storm, we lost power for 6 hours. Last spring I had a generator installed and we were up and running in less than a minute.

Sunday PM went into town to get more shear pins. Got about 7 miles and turned back. Roads were bad....not worth it

Sitting here watching the fire. Been through 1 1/2 cords and have another 5-6 cords in totes in the garage. Nice not having to go out and fetch wood during the worst of winter

I like winter. Been in FL in the summer.... will take winter anytime.


It gets cold in Florida in the Summer time 55 below Zero: I was a Lab Rat working in the McKinley Climatic Laboratory, Eglin AFB. Three months started at 80 degrees down to -55 back to 80 then 125 and back 80. Great Fun :)

[Dapaki]

Minne-Snowta, was 4 degrees yesterday morning, I had to wear a hoodie on my way to work! :-P

I love winter, the wood boiler is chugging away, snow is falling, the snowshoes are begging me to take them out for a walk! Throw on the trapper, mittens and hollow fill coat, lace up the boots and grab the Handi 12 gauge, a few shells, knoife, chocolate and walk the woods. Nothing better in the world!

[SweetMk]

What is to hate about winter??

If you just get a little snow,,

https://i.imgur.com/gaDHwHU.jpg

If you get a little more snow,,,

https://i.imgur.com/t6mVohU.jpg

This one ,,, will not go in the snow, even in 4WD,,

https://i.imgur.com/agSz29F.jpg

If there was no snow,, what excuse would I have to buy tractors!!?? 8-)

[wildwilly501]

There's a big difference between playing in the snow and cold and having to work in it every day.I plowed snow for 43 years 35 for the state and 8 years part time after I retired for the local township.New guys would start all excited love it.I told them wait a couple years you'll hate it haven't been wrong yet.People that just play in it have no idea.

[Gewehr-Guy]

There is one benefit of winter and snow, I use the tractor and push up a small mountain of snow for a backstop where I shoot. In the spring I gather up all the bullets, and some are in perfect condition,except for the rifling marks. Some day I'm going to relube them and shoot them in a comparison with new bullets.

[mattw]

There's a big difference between playing in the snow and cold and having to work in it every day.I plowed snow for 43 years 35 for the state and 8 years part time after I retired for the local township.New guys would start all excited love it.I told them wait a couple years you'll hate it haven't been wrong yet.People that just play in it have no idea.

Could not agree more. My sis loves it... she never worked outside on the farm. We rebuilt and repaired almost everything, pulled engines off the top of combines and rebuilt tractors. By 20 we had split 3 Internationals for rear end work, clutches or TA problems. Most of this was also done in the winter in an unheated uninsulated large shed. The heat in the shed was a 135k btu diesel fired salamander. I can still feel how cold the steel parts would get over night.

[Lloyd Smale]

loved winter when my body allowed snowmobiling alot. Back problems changed that and i came to detest winter. Now with the tourism skyrocketing around here in the summer i again love the winters for its peace. Keeps all the lightweights away.

[Thumbcocker]

My parents thought so too.
At least until I left home and wasn't there to chop trees, stack wood, then go out in the rain to get it.:bigsmyl2:
After that-- the gas log thing went from being thought of as an extravagant expense, to becoming a bargain.

Dad put in a furnace the year after I moved out. Coincidence? One great thing about winter; the bugs are DEAD.

[BJK]

When I was younger I loved winter and the snow. Now, not so much. But I'm fatalistic about it. It's here, we have a few months of it, then it warms up a bit, we have our one summer day then it reverses and it's back into winter and it repeats.

Yesterday it was in the 20s with a breeze that made it feel like below zero. Last night the wind slowed and the actual temp was 4°F this AM. Snow is coming but maybe not for us. Last week we had 6" of really heavy snow and we were without power for 47 hours in deadly cold (Maine), but we're ready for it and burned gas to make electricity.

I've thought of moving to a warmer climate, but all of the riff-raff is there for the entire year and I'd find that worse than winter. Our climate means they only show up here to celebrate our summer day.

We'll get through winter.

The biggest thing I don't like about it is that the competitive shooting stops for me. It does continue in the indoor ranges if one can tolerate the smoke (despite ventilation). I pretty much go into hibernation for the winter when it comes to shooting and I live to shoot. The bears have the right idea.

[rbuck351]

I lived in Alaska for 32 years (6 in Nome) and retired 4 years ago to northern Montana for the balmy winters and not to hot summers. I like all four of the four seasons.

[blackthorn]

Dad put in a furnace the year after I moved out. Coincidence? One great thing about winter; the bugs are DEAD.

After my kids were on their own (old enough that they no longer came up to the lake each time we went), I bought a pump to get the water from the lake up to the cabin. My oldest boy said "yea sure, we move out and are not there to haul the water and you put in a pump!"----My reply----"Yep now I have money to spare since I don't have to support you!" After I left home, got married and had kids, it did not take a rocket scientist to figure out how my folks got a TV and other small luxuries, AFTER I left home. It gave me a real appreciation for what it cost them to raise me.

[MT Gianni]

In my twenties I didn't mind reading meters 5 or 6 days a month in the cold. My mustache would ice over after 2 hours at minus 20 and the whole beard would ice up at negative 30. I planned to get back to the truck and warm up every two hours then. I have since moved to a warmer climate but still enjoy fishing in the winter and rarely put up an ice house unless it is below 0. I am astonished at the number of people who don't recreate in the winter. At age 66 I have slowed some but there is plenty of fun to be had.

[Winger Ed.]

After I left home, got married and had kids, it did not take a rocket scientist to figure out how my folks got a TV and other small luxuries, AFTER I left home.

A life long friend got a Class III suppressed Mac 9 shortly after his last kid left home.
The kid asked why he waited so long after wanting one for years.
He told the kid that after he left home it was like him getting about a $400 a month raise.

[Chihuahua Floyd]

i have a love/hate affair with winter.
love hunting seasons, snow is pretty, don't sweat on things.
hate cold as i have a condition that shuts off most blood flow to hands and feet at about 45 degrees. Rhynaulds Phenomenon (i know i spelled it wrong). hands and feet get cold and hurt, hands get stiff, fingers move slow. Gloves and boots only do so much. if i handle something cold with bare hands, feels like i am handling hot coals.
Gave up surveying because i can't write in cold weather. Riding motorcycle in cold is another adventure altogether.
CF

[contender1]

"What's Winter?"

That's the time of year all the snowbirds move to Florida for the season. (PS; My sister has become a snowbird,, while I like it just fine where I am,, here in WNC.)

[Idaho45guy]

What I really, really hate, is a "mild" winter. We get a lot of those up here now.

You get weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks of miserable weather; just above freezing, cold, wet, miserable, and dreary days. We're in the middle of such a spell now.

It's the kind of weather that causes suicides and domestic disputes to spike.

273367

[jsizemore]

Because you live in the frowzen Nawth .
If you are like me I encourage global warming ... the other thing will be another ICE AGE ... your state was covered with ten feet of ice ...try farming ice ... global warming ...yes !
Come spend the Winter in South Louisiana . I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen snow falling and stay on the ground . This morning it was 41 degrees F , that is our cold ...we call it freezing but it ain't ...now it's 55 degrees F ! I can live with that ... I was picking lemons & satsumas a few minutes ago wearing a T-shirt .
You just got born in the wrong place !

HUSH! When you talk like that they want to invade....again. HUSH!

There's hurricanes and snakes and gators down here. Lots of illegal aliens too. Save yourselves from certain death. Stay where you are.

[wildwilly]

Winter is my niece's most busy season. She lives/practices in the New England area (orthopedic surgeon). All sorts of patients hobble in with injuries from slipping on icy sidewalks, skiing, auto accidents. Yeah, she loves those NE winters.

[Winger Ed.]

. All sorts of patients hobble in with injuries from slipping on icy sidewalks, skiing, auto accidents.

I used to go to a eye doctor that wanted to have his practice in a picture perfect resort area when he got out of Med. School.
After living near Denver for a couple of winters and being a general MD type Doctor--
He decided to specialize as a eye Doctor because he wanted to work as far away from broken arms & legs as he could.

[jessdigs]

I used to hate winter. I work in utility construction, and when I was working non union as a contractor winter meant no work due to rain, which meant dodging the landlord and eating ramen. That lead to depression. Now I work for the power and gas company, and when it rains they pay us 5 hours for showing up and send us home. I like the rain. I like winter. Nothing like getting home before the wife and kids are awake, and making them breakfast on the clock.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[William Yanda]

Why? Mostly because there are so many 4 letter words associated wit it: cold, snow, wind, etc. Also there is the fact of shorter days.
But to date, the aggravation has not been enough to overcome inertia and seek warmer climes. One can always put on more clothes but there is a limit to how many you can remove. The current NY tax situation, with legislators enacting retroactive taxes may change that.

[Lloyd Smale]

What I really, really hate, is a "mild" winter. We get a lot of those up here now.

You get weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks of miserable weather; just above freezing, cold, wet, miserable, and dreary days. We're in the middle of such a spell now.

It's the kind of weather that causes suicides and domestic disputes to spike.

273367

yup its been that way here too. One wet snow that was hard to blow. Usually by this time we have at least a couple feet.

[Lloyd Smale]

Winter is my niece's most busy season. She lives/practices in the New England area (orthopedic surgeon). All sorts of patients hobble in with injuries from slipping on icy sidewalks, skiing, auto accidents. Yeah, she loves those NE winters.

I know alot of people up here that will even wait till winter for elective surgerys because if there going to sit around healing theyd rather not waste the summer

[Lloyd Smale]

HUSH! When you talk like that they want to invade....again. HUSH!

There's hurricanes and snakes and gators down here. Lots of illegal aliens too. Save yourselves from certain death. Stay where you are.

yup and when summer comes and its a 100 degrees and the air is a haze of humidity and its a perfect 75 degrees up here id say you picked the wrong place to live. Its why we get invaded by the southern tourists every summer. You can always add clothes to keep warm but the only escape from the brutal head is inside with air conditioning. I can put on a snowmobile suit go fishing, skiing, snowmobiling, show shoeing, rabbit hunting all in perfect comfort. Matter of fact for most of those a snowmobile suit is actually to warm. 100 degrees and 90 percent humidity. Well you cant go naked and that would probably be even worse anyway. You cant hardly walk a block let alone have fun doing anything but staying submerged in a lake or swiming pool outside. NOPE Id take 10f over a 100f any day of the year. Spent 8 years in that heat when i was younger and have no desire to even visit it again. If i had to it SURE wouldnt be in the summer.

[mattw]

yup and when summer comes and its a 100 degrees and the air is a haze of humidity and its a perfect 75 degrees up here id say you picked the wrong place to live. Its why we get invaded by the southern tourists every summer. You can always add clothes to keep warm but the only escape from the brutal head is inside with air conditioning. I can put on a snowmobile suit go fishing, skiing, snowmobiling, show shoeing, rabbit hunting all in perfect comfort. Matter of fact for most of those a snowmobile suit is actually to warm. 100 degrees and 90 percent humidity. Well you cant go naked and that would probably be even worse anyway. You cant hardly walk a block let alone have fun doing anything but staying submerged in a lake or swiming pool outside. NOPE Id take 10f over a 100f any day of the year. Spent 8 years in that heat when i was younger and have no desire to even visit it again. If i had to it SURE wouldnt be in the summer.

Oh man... I will take IL's full summer heat and humidity over winter. I could love fall, except it is followed by short, cold, nasty days for 5 months.

[dtknowles]

I have never been on ocean beach and been so hot that it was uncomfortable as long as you have shade and of course you can always take a dip in the ocean to cool off if you get too hot. Working outside in the south in the summer is a different case. The heat can be deadly, we have heat deaths every year, sometimes they are high school football players in practice.

Just for giggles I checked the temperture records for few places I lived.

Bangor, Me. record high 104 deg. F record low -32 deg. F low to high is 136 deg. F

Daytona Beach, FL. record high 102 deg. F record low 15 deg. F low to high 87 deg. F

Santa Barbara, CA. record high 106 deg. F record low 25 deg. F low to high 81 deg. F

New Orleans, LA. record high 100 deg. F record low 21 deg. F low to high 79 deg. F

Judging by extremes New Orleans wins but I actually like the central Florida Atlantic coast the best, oh, and no state income tax.

Tim

[Gewehr-Guy]

That last post got me curious about South Dakota extreme temp swings.

Faith SD, low of --67 and high 115, temp swing of 182 Deg.

Gann Valley, low of --59 and high 120 , swing of 179Deg.

I've experienced temps of -45 to 114 in the last 30 years. I'm sure there are other states even worse for temp swings.

[fastdadio]

I'm a commercial HVAC guy. With that came years of rooftop equipment work in the dead of winter. It's a good trade and people gotta have heat, which is why I got into it. With the years came wisdom and I finally secured a job in a powerhouse maintaining the big boilers and chillers. So, no more outside work for me. Can't snow ski any more cause my knees are shot. But, I still like to hike and hunt out in the woods and proper clothing makes it enjoyable. The best thing about winter though, is that my garbage doesn't stink and my beer stays cold.....

[gbrown]

Here in SETX, we get summer time Temps to 105 (haven't in about 8 years) to 98 (usual). Feels like 105. Ok. Been there, done that a thousand times. Go out, edge, mow, take breaks, take your time. Easy-peasy. Come in, cool down, good to go. Nothing to it. Spent my time in cold weather, I'll pass. All I can say.

[Idaho45guy]

Oh man... I will take IL's full summer heat and humidity over winter. I could love fall, except it is followed by short, cold, nasty days for 5 months.

I lived in Iowa for a few years and found it absolutely miserable. Over 100 degrees with high humidity made it miserable in the summer, and -60 wind chill made it miserable in the winter. I remember one winter there, they set a new record for number of days in a row where it did not get above zero. Was like a month or more of below zero weather.

Then, when spring comes, you get giant hail stones and tornados. Just an awful place to live.

[.429&H110]

SWMBO took a vote:
No more winter!
Alaska is pleasant compared to New Hampshire.
Middle of NH boss fired the plow driver, said yor it. So snowy nights I looped around the campus and one night an ice event pulled down the pine trees and wires around me. I backed out of the sparking mess, road was closed bigtime. I kept a route around the mess open, as the ice storm froze, turned to snow. I don't work there anymore. Plowing snow is fun for about ten minutes. Makes for a long night. Snow is one thing, an ice storm is another. Do the kids know how to make tire chains? My dad taught me, make a ladder of tire chain to fit with a chain breaker. Wash the tire chains in bucket of water with diesel floating on top to get the salt off, hang them to dry for next time. I don't exactly hate winter, but I hate tire chains.

[Petander]

If I really hated winter I would be living somewhere else. I have lived in NYC and Rio De Janeiro,for different climates and cultures.

I'm concentrating on nice winter things I can do, not what I can't do. It's a state of mind,needs some adjusting.

My heart condition doesn't love winter but I try not to care. Things like shooting are great because nobody else shoots in winter so I have a practically private range at our hunting club cottage, a five minute drive. How cool is that these days when many ranges get closed... plus I can be sure about virus distancing.

I think I got the one mile private road plown three times last winter.

The berm is @ 75 meters,there's a bullet trap on the left,too.

https://i.postimg.cc/zGcKRP5g/IMG-20201218-142502.jpg

Life could be much worse- or no life at all.

[10x]

I am only 55, but when I was a kid and into my university years we farmed a small family farm and I learned my hatred for winter and all things that came with it. We had cattle and chickens, keeping them alive thru winter was my job. I was also responsible for keeping drives open, this meant time on a cabless diesel tractor with a heat houser, bucket and blade. Sometimes it was cold enough to gel the fuel and that meant dragging the salamander to the tractor and applying lots of heat, while being cold.

Keeping the livestock tank thawed was a huge pain with a kerosene drip heater. I found this article and it about summed it up. Our tank heater was the same design, but older and very cantankerous. Many times the wind would suck the flame out and leave way to much fuel in the bottom ring, it had to be burned out when that happened. Each morning around 6 I would either get it lit or add fuel and add water and each evening it was the same routine. Drip rate and chimney damper had to be set for the current conditions, the damper would prevent the flame from being sucked out by wind and drip rate made up for the outside temperature.

This article really summed up the frustration with the tank heater and is pretty will written.


I grew up in the sub arctic, eastern slopes of the Rockies in the 1950s and 1960s.
Winter temperatures dropped to -55F and on one occasion alcohol that was left in an unheated vehicle froze.
1968 - 1969 we had 3 months when it was never warmer than -35F.
The grease on front wheel bearings would get stiff enough where the front wheels would slide on the ice.
I carried water for livestock and any that splashed on my pants froze on the surface, the fabric never got wet. I had to carry water 3 times a day.
Getting a vehicle to start was usually a challenge and when we got electricity it was a disaster when we forgot to plug in the block heater on the pickup.
Wood heat was a mixed blessing, at -35F combustion air would cool the house except for the room the wood stove was in.
I do recall spilling water on the floor and having it freeze before i had a chance to wipe it up.
1967-68-69 I spend trapping with my friend Lorne, School work and checking traps in the dark. Sunset was at 4:20 , Sunrise at 09:15. Daylight was 4 hours of dusk and 2 hours of light.
I loved winter, I loved trapping, and shooting squirrels, skinning, and stretching them for sale,
55 years later the cold simply hurts, and snow has become a barrier.

[GregLaROCHE]

I love winter when it is cold and dry. I hate when temperatures hover around freezing.

[.429&H110]

I worked with a clan of Upers at UAF. They said they moved to Alaska for the nice weather.

[robg]

wet and just above freezing is the worst.dry cold is ok .

[.429&H110]

-20 is a warm Spring day.
-40 in the dark hurts my fingers, the .44 shoots itself black.
Sourdoughs taught this poor cheechako to run Royal Purple in the power steering and 5 speed transmission. Before and after was dramatic. The Tacoma power steering pump was howling and we lost first gear until the Royal Purple swap. One afternoon at work engine oil froze enough that it would not turn over even with pan and block heaters. Really a good thing it didn't start. Dragged it into a warm place, ran Mobil1 with no problem ever since. Only ran Royal Purple 2 stroke oil in the sled, much cleaner burning stuff. We don't have these challenges here in the Sonoran Desert. Going to wear a sweater to church, this morning it's 50. Brrr.

[LynC2]

Having to work in the winter outside certainly can suck when it's dark and the wind is howling. That said, in my younger years I thrived on hunting in some weather that I would now rate as miserable. Now days I enjoy looking out at the pristine white landscape with a cup of coffee until I have to shove off the driveway before it becomes a skating rink!

[MT Gianni]

I may have the best situation of winter I have ever been in. We get most of our moisture in April-June, its a rare year to shovel snow more than 4 or 5 times. The 25+ MPH winds push it off when we do get some snow. No one in our end of the County has a snowmobile, you would have to haul it somewhere to sled. Ranchers use 4 wheelers or Razors all year here.I have been ice fishing 3 times so far so life is good.

[GregLaROCHE]

+10 to -10 was always my favorite temperatures to be outdoors.
It’s raining tonight (Christmas Eve) it’s supposed to cool down and I hope to awake to a white Christmas.
Merry Christmas everyone !

[10-x]

Moved to Fl. where its warmer. Will take 40’s for winter temps over 20’s or lower where family and lots of friends are. “Arthur” in most my joints just wont take cold any more. Back in late 70’s early 80’s spent some winters working in Chicago, got down to -60 with wind chill. Would take temps in Vietnam any day.

[MaryB]

Older I get more I hate MN winters... but I cannot handle 100 degree summers with humidity... I have debated moving but the cost is way to high plus all my family is in MN.

[FarNorth45]

Well you could always move up here to Alaska for a year or two ......... then when you move back they would seem really short ha!ha . I dont see any gravel on my road from October - end of May ..... when spring finally hits you have weeks off mud and weight restrictions because of break-up . But i still love winter , ice-fishing , trapping and so on ........ but once you get 4-5months in , I'm ready for warm weather !!!

[MaryB]

Well you could always move up here to Alaska for a year or two ......... then when you move back they would seem really short ha!ha . I dont see any gravel on my road from October - end of May ..... when spring finally hits you have weeks off mud and weight restrictions because of break-up . But i still love winter , ice-fishing , trapping and so on ........ but once you get 4-5months in , I'm ready for warm weather !!!

About 3 weeks into January I am ready for spring... MN pretty much has a similar climate to AK other than winter is about a month shorter... get a little more sun at 45 degrees north than you do!