Straw Poll: Wintry Weather

As the east coast (US) is experiencing its first taste—to my knowledge—of solid precipitation this season, I sit at my office desk letting giddiness wash over me while watching actual snowflakes start to fall outside my window. As happy as I'm feeling right now, I want to know where TFP stacks up with respect to Old Man Winter.

I know cold weather, blustery winds and solid chunks of whatever falling from the sky can inspire dread in certain people. My ex, a native Floridian, was one of them. Whereas autumn is my favorite season and I savor each crisp, cool day with its clear blue skies, sunlight and brilliant foliage colors, she never could because, in her mind, fall was merely an unpleasantly short-lived prelude to the dreaded "Sleepy Hollow" season of winter. And this continues despite eleven years living in Maryland, where the winters aren't even that intense. Talk about a Debbie Downer—no thank you.

Personally, I adore snow and everything to be done in it. I'm one of those weird people that actually enjoys shoveling. I thoroughly enjoy cold weather as long as I'm either being active enough or am dressed appropriately in the absence of such activity to stay warm and comfortable. I love riding my bike in the fall and winter—it's among my favorite things to do once the temperature starts dropping, at least as long as we're not getting enough snow for my liking. The only thing I'm not wild about is riding into a stiff headwind, and cold rain mixed with high winds is certainly less than pleasant. But the way I see it, suffering through that mess makes getting inside to the warmth and possibly a hot beverage all the more rewarding.

For those that do appreciate a good winter wonderland, here's some snow porn for you.

 

I've never seen snow.

 

I love autumn. It's definitely my favorite. I hate winter, though. Bleah.

It did snow a little bit earlier, and I felt some of that little kid giddiness again. Not sure what was going on there I'll admit that I love watching my dogs play in the snow, when it actually accumulates (none of that today.) They're so funny. Benjen likes to catch snowballs, and if he misses, he looks up at me like, "where'd it go?"

 

Yours truly, a couple of years ago.



The brown lump to the left is Molly, she's a fan, too.



I like all 4 seasons, though the transition gets a bit boring, sometimes.

 

I love, love, LOVE winter. At least I used to when I lived in Ohio. It actually snows as in FEET not dusting in the Midwest. I have yet to feel the wonderment in the PAC NW that I did in Ohio during the winter months.

DaddySquirrel has no desire to leave the PAC NW. Since BabySquirrel's only living grand parent is here, I doubt we'll move any time soon. I'd love to live in New England. Old historic homes covered in snow and beautifully adorned with Christmas decorations sounds so lovely to me.

It's possible that I could make as much or more than DaddySquirrel when I am finished with my MBA. I shall use that as reason why I get to choose where we live. ;-)

 

I'm cool with all of the seasons, in moderation.

If I was to live somewhere without snow, I'd start to miss it. But I couldn't stand having snow around full-time.

 

You should really enjoy next week then. Some serious cold, and possibly snowfall coming your way.

I love a snowy winter. As much as I love bicycling I am happy to let it go on hiatus for a few months for a good old fashioned upstate winter.
If I'm going to live in upstate NY and suffer through months of short days with perpetual cloudiness I want a nice snowpack on the ground.
In a good winter I am cross country skiing 3 or 4 days a week.
Plus we have a pond across the street for skating and shooting pucks. I also play pickup hockey 1-2 nights a week in town at the village rink.
And now my young daughters are just learning to skate and ski.
We are off to a good start this year. It's been January-like for the last 2 weeks.
Bring it on!

 

That sounds AMAZING!

 

I love it. Here in hotlanta we got a dusting of snow today.

 

I miss autumn. I had a small taste of it when I was in Toronto this year.

Singapore is hot and humid all year 'round. The only real season we have is the rainy season, which is happening now.

Winter. I do like winter. Fresh snow. Tobogganing. Skating. Hockey. It's all good. Where it breaks down for me is the dirty slush, the short days with little sun, no leaves on the trees, duration (come March it's a matter of when will it end) and the list goes on.

 

You express disappointment with local weather and desire to move to my area. I express disappointment with my local area and desire to move to yours. Perhaps this is a true case of the grass being greener. Not that my grass is green, the last little bit of my straw yellow lawn washed away today.

 

The longer I live, the less I like the cold and snow. If the calendar went from October straight to April, I would not mind at all. I don't think I'd like perpetual summer, but it's just the end of November and I'm tired of being cold already.

 

I like the quietness that comes with snow, but not the cold.
Here in East Texas, we get snow, but it goes away fast. I like that.

 

The view outside my house just now. We could use a little snow.

 

What grumpy said.
I'm just tired of the damn cold.

I did love all the outdoors stuff as a kid--building snow-forts, snowmen, snowballs, tobogganing--the beauty of a winter wonderland.
But it's a long damn cold, winter here. I never get warm until spring comes back.
I'll rank my winters--as a kid in Toronto --perfect--as a kid in Connecticut---blizzard of '67? Fuck yeah. Everything closed for days. Great hills for sledding and tobogganing. The snow was great packing snow, though a bitch to shovel. (Got sick of the cold and left for California at age 18.)
Winter in Southern California with a visit to real winter for a week each year? Perfect.
Winter in the Chicago area as an adult? No. It's flat, so sledding and tobogganing are timing-consuming to do (to find a good hill). The wind chill, much like Toronto and Detroit, is a mofo because the area is pretty flat. Oh, yeah, driving in it is beautiful <sarcasm>. That crap they put down for traction gets all over your car and your boots. Bleh. People fall down in parking lots and break their bums. Oh yeah--the extra time it takes to get bundled up to go out the damn door. I wanna throw on some flip-flops and go. Instead: velour hoodie, boots, long, heavy winter coat with hood, long, thick scarf, mittens.

Winter is pretty to look at but it lasts for half a year here. Too long. Too little sun. It freezes my dog's feet. It's messy when they track wet paws through the house. I can't have my gardens. Bitch moan complain.