As we push into our… 3rd week, is it(?) of -40° here’s a picture from my bedroom.

That was solid frost on the left corner, but I broke the hole there in getting the curtain loose for the picture.

I agree with whoever it was that said “People who complain about the cold are really just bragging they survived it.”

And as part of my brag I wanted to point out the ways in which this cold snap (that may be record-making– I’ll know in a week or two) really isn’t as horrible as it could be.

1. Except for Jay, we are a stay-at-home family.  We don’t have to cram tired children into snowsuits at any rigid time.
2. We have a garage.  I never knew before we lived here how it completely would change my view of cold weather activity and living.
3. Fuel costs are down.  Heating oil was up above $5/gallon at one point
4. Just this fall we had our house checked and we are at a higher fuel efficiency and level of weatherization than most of Fairbanks.  I attribute this both to having a newer house– an interesting story for another day– and having a smaller home.
5. We had a solid collection of snowfall before the temp dropped, so the plants have good coverage.  I remember the last time we had a really cold stretch with minimal coverage and it was very hard on the green.
6. The green is apparently more hearty than the bugs, because these cold stretches are an efficient killer of the limited ickys we have here.  It was a couple/three years ago that we had a record-scary summer for wasps (two deaths, lots of ER visits).  It was directly attributed to a string of mild winters.  Whispers and fingers pointed to this latest evidence for Global Warming.  I wonder what they’re saying now…
7. How cool is it that the 50th anniversary of statehood be commemorated by a historic(ish) cold stretch?  At least, since it’s not up to me I can try to think of it that way.