The Cold

Allow me to talk about the cold.

I have always prided myself on my ability to deal with the cold. And I am glad to say that, although Vermont is testing my pride, I am holding up fairly well. That is not to say that my experiences with Vermont's idea of "cold" has not tested me. I have had a few mishaps with the climate here, which I will gladly share with you.

The baseboard heater in my room burst recently. Turns out when it gets really really cold (around -20) you need to take some precautions in my apartment, like making sure the heat is turned up fairly high. If not, because all the baseboards are on an outside wall, the pipes can freeze, and subsequently burst. My entire room was flooded, ruining my carpet (it really tied the room together), soaking my laundry (mesh hampers do nothing to keep water out), and even ruined a pillow that had been carelessly left next to my bed (no parenthetical comment on that one).

I work at a ski resort here in Vermont, and most of my day is spent outside. I was at work about a week before the pipe bursting incident and the wind was gusting at about 60 MPH, the temp (without windchill) was about 16 degrees, and it was snowing. I had all the proper gear to protect myself from the brutality of the outside world, except a face mask. See, while here in Vermont, I am allowing my facial hair to grow out, and I thought that it would be enough protection from the cold. Turns out, I was right! My face was plenty warm as far as I was concerned, however my coworkers were a little upset with me. See, I had a solid layer of ice clinging to my face-whiskers. They said that looking at me was making them feel colder, and demanded that I stop being stupid and put a face mask on. Grudgingly I went inside, chiseled my face free from its icy prison, and got a face mask.

That same day, coming home from work, I found out that the all-weather all-terrain tires was a great investment. If I happen to hit a slippery spot on the road, during a curve, with oncoming traffic, it is very nice to know that I can at least steer my cay toward the snowbank on MY side of the road. I didn't actually hit a snow bank, but there were a solid 1.5 seconds where I considered it a best plan B.

I suspect I will be writing about the cold more as I continue my life here in Vermont, but I will try not to bore you with mundane weather updates.