Florida Chills
-Snow memories.
Let me whisk you back a few decades to a time when winter mountaineering was my ultimate passion. The solitude, the breathtaking beauty, and the exhilarating rush of skiing in the backcountry—it was an adventure filled with adrenaline and an overwhelming sense of achievement. Those snow caves I dug? Absolutely worth every effort.
Then life took a delightful turn—I got married and introduced my young Jamaican bride to the wonders of cross-country skiing on Casper Mountain. Eventually, my children also experienced the thrill of the snowy slopes.
Living with mountains and all that snow just minutes from my house, we sometimes took it all for granted.
Reflecting on winter, there’s another side I don’t often dream about — the time when my son’s car:
- Was merely 100 feet from home
- Sat innocently on bare asphalt
- Ended up completely buried in drifting snow
- All in less than 30 minutes Yes, you read that right—buried above the roof in a snowdrift that was 100 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 6 feet deep. This, despite the valiant efforts of two guys armed with shovels and a commercial snow blower.
That blizzard, with its 90+ mph winds, simply laughed at our attempts. I don’t think I could handle those blizzards now.
Fast forward to today, in Florida, where it’s a balmy 62 degrees inside and 50 degrees outside. It feels like a world away from Wyoming in so many ways. Yet, here I am, feeling a bit chilly. Time to switch to:
- Long pants instead of shorts
- Shoes and socks instead of sandals
- Warm the house up to 68 degrees with the heat pump This happens 2 to 3 times a year during a South Florida winter. It’s the perfect time to test a heat pump that I technically don’t need and embark on a quest for some socks that have been missing in action for quite a while.
Brrr. I think this transplant is adapting. Check back again this May when it’s 98 degrees and 96 percent humidity in the Florida shade. I might have changed my mind. 😄
✨
With snow memories and sunshine dreams, D 🌴🌊
