Brr.

Okay, so it's cold. Big deal. It's the first week of February; of course it's cold. We can deal with this.

Blarg.

Last night was the coldest we've had so far this winter, with a temperature below 0 F and a cold wind to make it worse. I was out with an injured relative who had to navigate a poorly cleared path on an orthopedic walking boot---the tractionless cam boot---which required gripping my coat to get over an icy patch. We proceeded like a very short, cold, and miserable conga line.

As I write this, AccuWeather reports that we've warmed up to 2, with a "RealFeel" of -3. So the wind has basically stopped.

On that note: RealFeel is a trademark of AccuWeather, used to replace wind chill and heat index and things like that, I guess. Unfortunately, the term "RealFeel" has been so popular that it has also been trademarked by manufacturers of drum practice pads, cell phone covers, flight simulator software, and---inevitably---condoms and related lubricants. Which is an appropriate pairing, as Old Man Winter is hosing us right now.

Winter used to not bother me so much, because, like heat in the south, you could avoid it by running from the house to the car and the car to the office and the office to the car and the car to the store and the store to the car and the car to the house. But once you have a dog, you are at the mercy of the elements. And the elements keep coming---even with no place left to stash the snow, more is coming this weekend. Old Man W don't care.

I keep reminding myself that next month is March, and although most of March falls in winter, it is the beginning of spring, damn it all. We can get through this. Probably.