This is starting out to be the winter....

[ruppertflywheel]

from hell. We're getting bombed up here again in the Brainerd-Nisswa area after I just blew the driveway out yesterday. Duluth got 26 inches of snow last weekend. You get both the snow and the cold and it makes Minnesota match up well with the moon. Be glad to get the "H" out for the Bowl game. Hey, I ice fish, snowshoe,etc, but this state still blows when it's 25 below and snowing so hard you can't see the hand in front of your face. I feel bad for you holer's down in the metro area with the black ice, freeway traffic,etc.

[Friend Of Tubby]

Here in Chicago, we have had 7 or 8 different snowfalls in the first 3 weeks of December. We've already had days of Below Zero weather. That's February weather for us. This winter is starting out worse than last year (and that was our worst in 30 years).

[Schnoodler]

A couple more years and the daughter graduates. If I get a winter like this then, it will be my last Minnesota winter. I may even go nomadic and visit BGA and CRG and RockRaven. They better have nice cushy couches. I'll redefine the term 'outstaying your welcome'.

[bigtenchamps1899]

this is beautiful stuff! i spent the first 25 years of my life in central california where you had to drive to the mountains to see snow (and decent frigid temps). the only thing the midwest is missing is some nice big mountains for playing. there is something about being so close to death that really gets the juices flowing:D. but i do wonder how the early pioneers did it--they must have been some hard folks!

[Gopher4Life]

Schnoodler,

>>If I get a winter like this then, it will be my last Minnesota winter.<<

My last winter in Minnesota was '74, and now I'm afraid I'm too soft to ever return. I didn't plan it that way, but that's the way it's worked out. My heart still misses everything about winter in Minnesota, but my brain knows I couldn't take the cold like I did in my more robust years.

BTW, we've had about a half inch of some slushy stuff so far here in OK...and schools closed down for two days. Get the picture?

[coolhandgopher]

We had our first day of summer yesterday in Peru-the days are starting to get hot, the nights are cool, and I'm wearing T-shirts and shorts during the day. I'm returning for a month to Minnesota from in mid-January to mid-February and I'm very hopeful it'll correspond with a nice long January/February thaw. I feel for you guys, but loving this southern climate!

[Schnoodler]

Schnoodler,

>>If I get a winter like this then, it will be my last Minnesota winter.<<

My last winter in Minnesota was '74, and now I'm afraid I'm too soft to ever return. I didn't plan it that way, but that's the way it's worked out. My heart still misses everything about winter in Minnesota, but my brain knows I couldn't take the cold like I did in my more robust years.

BTW, we've had about a half inch of some slushy stuff so far here in OK...and schools closed down for two days. Get the picture?


I'm going to visit you too. Unannounced of course. I'll give you a small heads up a couple of months early with a very vague ETA, just enough time for you to stock up on Ben and Jerry's.

[Ogee Oglethorpe]

I only left MN just over 4 years ago and I think I"m ALREADY too soft to go back.

The wife and I have a townhouse in Flagstaff, AZ (just over a 3 hour drive) which is at 7,000 ft and usually has "winter". We ran there over the weekend after I got back from the Gophers game in PHX to get it cleaned up for some friends staying there. I spent 30 minutes shoveling the walk outside, as well as the neighbor's (hey, I'm that kind of guy), and that was enough for me to remember what I don't like.

Things like this just reinforce what I've learned from living in a few different locales in my life:

No place is perfect but just about every place is livable if you have the means and opportunity to get away with any regularity.

[diehard]

Schnoodler, just talked to rockraven. He said to have your daughter enroll at Duke, update your resume so he can review your skill sets and come on down! What G4L says about getting too soft to go back is 100% right for the winter, but you can't beat a Minnesota summer or Minnesotans.

[Schnoodler]

Schnoodler, just talked to rockraven. He said to have your daughter enroll at Duke, update your resume so he can review your skill sets and come on down! What G4L says about getting too soft to go back is 100% right for the winter, but you can't beat a Minnesota summer or Minnesotans.


I'll have to consider this. Working wasn't actually a part of my vision.