Winter in Wisconsin

Since moving here, lots of people have asked what winter in Wisconsin is really like. My simple answer has always been, "cold." But today, since it's obviously too cold to go out, I'll expand on that a little.
Church was canceled for the third time last Sunday. It had been freezing cold before Sunday, but the temps warmed up to the high 20's, so we let the girls out of the house to play.

Lizzie is standing on top of where our mailbox usually is, but it is currently buried under about 6 feet of snow. One of the things about winter here is that the snow never melts. Every storm just builds on the last one.

They name storms here, similar to hurricanes in the South. I don't know why they do this, except that maybe when people sit inside for weeks on end they have to try to make it fun somehow. This one was Isabella. Yes, that means that it was our ninth major storm.

Isabella started out with freezing rain, as you can see in the picture. We get all sorts of weather conditions, like freezing rain, lake effect snow, blowing snow, and my favorite: Thunder Snow. I just like how it sounds to say it. The freezing rain is scary because it coats everything in a layer of ice which doesn't melt until Spring (May).

Even though snow is inconvenient, I was hoping that it would continue because as long as it snows, the temperatures stay above zero. It's like picking the lesser of two evils (similar to our Presidential primary today, but that's another story). The snow stopped last night, and this morning, this is what I saw when I put up the blind:


The ice is covering the entire window and it will look this way until our first thaw, which could still be at least a month away. It does this because it is so cold outside and we have older windows.

Here are a few things about the cold:

People can't take their Christmas decorations down until at least March.

Skin freezes almost immediately when it hits that cold air, especially when the wind blows, too. This makes gloves and hats a must, and even then, we just run from the car to wherever we're going. Our hands are all cracked and bleeding from the brutally cold air outside and the super dry air inside from the furnace being on all the time.

We try not to go anywhere if we can help it. It's just so much easier to stay home than to try to pack everyone up in their warmest stuff.

The ground is covered with snow and it sticks to the bottoms of shoes and doesn't come off until said shoes are inside, usually on my light carpet in the living room. I now understand why Wisconsinites always take their shoes off when they go into someone's house (always!). This also makes sock-wearing a must.

Along those lines, there is no such thing as Wisconsin Chic. I have been through three winters and still cannot find a pair of boots that I like enough to buy, but I need to just give up and get a pair at Fleet Farm (the name says it all). The rule here is: anything goes. No one cares what anyone else is wearing because it is usually covered by heavy coats and snow, and people are too busy worrying about their own survival to care about anyone else.

So there it is. A thumbnail of life here right now. I know that Arizona and Texas have brutal heat all summer, but I have to say that right now, I'd trade my (as-yet-nonexistent) boots for flip-flops in a minute. Anyone? Anyone?