So Cold It Burns

Years ago I spent a terrible winter living in Minnesota, and I realized that you have to give a lot of credit to the Swedes and Norwegians who settled that wild country back in the old days. These are people who got on wooden ships and used crude navigation tools to get across a treacherous ocean, then landed on a new continent where they had to fight their way past Indians, bears, and wolves through the wilderness on foot to reach a place to to carve a new home out of a land that was just as frozen and miserable as the one they left!

During that bitter cold winter, somebody convinced me that I should participate in the polar bear plunge. If you’ve never heard of this bit of craziness, it’s when they break the ice in a river or lake and people jump into the frigid water. Don’t ask me why, I’m not a psychiatrist. At any rate, myself and several fools decided we were going to do this, so we pulled up to the designated boat ramp in a van, stripped down to our skivvies, and made a mad dash for the water. I made it in up to my knees and thought I was going to die! Did you know it’s possible to experience cold to such a deep level that it actually burns? Trust me, that’s what I felt that crazy day. I turned right around and ran back to the van, put my clothes back on, and shivered until the rest of those idiots were done.

I experienced something like that yesterday when I went to Alabama Dermatology in Tuscaloosa to have some precancerous spots frozen on my face, head, and hands with liquid nitrogen. I’ve been through this procedure several times and it’s never pleasant. And yes, it is so cold that it burns. But as opposed to getting skin cancer, it’s a pretty good trade off.

After that was done, we went to Pastor’s Kitchen for a Mexican food fix, which is always delicious. Then we stopped to see Travis and Geli on the way home and to pick up some broccoli and Brussels sprouts starter plants Travis had for Terry. It’s always nice to see how their gardens are going and to visit with their flock of chickens.

Back at home, Terry picked some peppers from one of her raised garden beds. She’s going to plant the things she got from Travis in the next few days.

I spent some time trying to get the box blade on my Kubota tractor’s three-point hitch to level out, which was very frustrating, and I was getting nowhere. No matter how I tried to adjust it, one side was always higher than the other and I was way beyond frustrated. Terry offered to come out and give me a hand, and she quickly spied what I was doing wrong in adjusting the leveler arms. Following her directions, it only took a moment or two to get things where they needed to be. Where would I be without her?

It’s Thursday, so it’s time for a new Free Drawing. This week’s prize is a hardcover edition of an RV camping journal donated by Barbara House. Barbara makes several variations of these, and they all have pages where you can list the date, weather, where you traveled to and from that day, beginning and ending mileage, campground information including amenities at RV sites, a place for campground reviews, room to record activities, people met along the way, reminders of places to see and things to do the next time you’re in the area, and a page for notes for each day.

To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books and audiobooks to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed. After 90 days, unclaimed prizes revert back to the drawing pool for a future contest.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – Doing nothing is hard because you never know when you’re done.