Cold Enough For You?

"Cold enough for you?" said one Minnesotan to another. 

I've lived in Minnesota all my life, (other than my four years of college down south, in Iowa) so I have heard this cold-enough question more times than I care to remember. Yes, some folks, especially those that live in warmer climates, can't image why anyone would chose to live in our bitter cold. We love Minnesota, and its weather just makes life a bit more interesting.

All Minnesota schools closed for cold weather Monday, Jan. 6

One of our interesting days is this upcoming Monday, Jan.6 when Governor Dayton already asserted his authority and declared no school due to the wind chill dipping (crashing) to -40 to -60 degrees. This means that students are jumping for joy, parents are scratching their heads thinking, "hey, didn't we just get our kids back to school?" and Sara and I and our fellow teachers will not be teaching that day. 

Farmers, however, are preparing for the Arctic blast. Some of our chores are slightly different during the winter months. You can read more about these cold weather preparations here. Our job continues each day no matter what the weather, so we are doing whatever we can to make these cold days comfortable for our cattle and for us farmers too! Today we are giving each pen a thorough cleaning, so less needs to be done when the weather turns bitter. Each cattle barn is getting an additional stock pile of feed, hay and bedding to speed up the chore process on the fast-approaching nasty-cold days. 

But no matter what the thermometer reads, you can bet our first priority is the care and comfort of our animals. Even if it means we need to toss off the blankets we have been huddled under on the sofa, bundle up in our cold weather gear, check the herd one last time before heading to bed, to start all over again at day break tomorrow. Ahhh, Minnesota, gotta love it!