Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Today the high temperature was around -8 degrees F.  With the wind, it felt like it was in the -30 to -40 degree range.

It's kind of hard to explain how cold that actually feels.  It's the kind of cold that when you walk further than ten feet from your car to the door of the grocery store, your face starts to hurt.  When you fill your car up with gas, you run the risk of getting a cold burn (is that a real thing?!) if you don't wear gloves to touch the pump.  When you walk outside and take your first breath, you reflexively cough a little bit because the air is so cold that it shocks your lungs.

Betcha wish ya lived here.

Yesterday all three of us spent over an hour shoveling out what felt like tons of snow after a blizzard.  The wind chill was -45 F.  Not my favorite.

There are bright spots, though.

Today, there was a beautiful sun dog.  It was absolutely stunning.  A sun dog is a little like a rainbow surrounding the sun, but it happens in the cold.

The sun is at the center, and the light reflects around it.

This is one side of the sun dog.  This photo captures a little bit of the color.

Today we also decided we would try out what we've heard called 'boiling water fireworks'.  This is where you take boiling water, pour it in a cup and throw it in the air.  The water from this video was at a rolling boil just a minute before.  I'll let you watch the video to see what happens.

So,  I guess, that even though the cold is bitter and wearing, it is also beautiful and magical.