Inclement weather

I love challenges.  Not technological or mathematical ones, of course, because there's no challenge in it for me.  I know I'll fail those.  No, I like challenges where there's some prospect of actually triumphing.  That's why I like cold weather.

Many people, if not most people, hate cold weather. They prefer the stifling heat to the bitter cold.  The mere fact that people label extreme cold bitter points that out.  Karen has medical issues related to the cold, so for some, cold weather is indeed bitter.  But those who just don't like being cold find no sympathy from me.

I've said it countless times:  Assuming no personal bias, in cold weather you can always put on more clothing, but in hot weather, you can only take off so much clothing, at least in a civilized society that isn't located in a rain forest.  Sure, there are inconveniences associated with the cold:  Starting the car motors, shoveling, scraping windshields, not being able to stick one's tongue on metal poles.  But hot weather makes one lethargic, whereas the cold encourages activity which, last time I checked, was a good thing.

In extremely hot weather, about the only things one can do safely are sit on a beach or go swimming, whether it be in a pool, lake or ocean.  But in cold weather, there are myriad activities that can be pursued, from skiing to skating to chopping wood to sledding to snowball fights to snowshoeing.  One has to bundle up, certainly, but there's fun to be had in the lower temperatures.

Both extremes pose some health risks, but on average, hotter weather poses more than cold.  Unless someone is exerting himself shoveling snow, there's little risk of falling dead simply because of the temperature.  Long-term exposure to temperature can result in hypothermia, but the cold, for shorter periods of time, can't kill like extreme heat can through overheating.  Heart attacks can result from hotter weather even when there's no physical exertion.

For me, it's preference.  I don't mind getting outside and doing stuff in hotter weather provided I'm not expected to look presentable.  As a guy, I'm used to being grimy and sweaty.  It's when I have to don the monkey suit and brave the elements that real ugliness ensues.  Trying to look presentable before a judge when the temperatures in the eighties, the humidity's approaching the nineties and I have to walk six blocks through the concrete canyons results in me looking look a survivor from a shipwreck.

Sure, I played baseball.  I played it in some hot weather, too.  But I was younger, the risk of heart attack was distant to non-existent, and some games were played at night.  There aren't too many hockey games played outdoors at night for the simple reasons that there are no lights by the ponds, rivers and lakes.

I do understand the gripes.  I just don't agree with them.  That explains why, at 5.30a this morning, I was out taking the dogs to do their business, removing the snow from Karen's car and moving it so she could get to work comfortably.  I'd do that in the summer at the same time, but I'd suffer if I had to do it at 3.00p.  For me, there hasn't been too cold yet.  I'm not overly macho, I just prefer the cold to the heat.

(2014 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles