There is one thing I do love doing in winter...snow-shoeing. If you like to hike, and I really do, there is nothing quite as spectacular as going down a trail after a fresh snow. Even better if it's a trail you are familiar with during the warm months. You would swear it was a different place. And the animal tracks...it's amazing to see evidence of so many animals in places where you rarely get a glimpse of the animals themselves.

Hey!
Not my fault you nuts live up there!

50 degrees can kill you!
That's cold!

I'm wearing 6 layers on my top and 5 on my legs...3 pairs of socks and 2 tobaggans!

I'm doin 12-18 hour days out in it fooling with cattle, and making wreaths for x-mas.

It's lame!

I have lived in the northeast in Massachusetts and Connecticut and didn't mind the snow too much.; it was the ice storms that did me in. We had 17 ice storms about the time I was trying to decide whether or not to move to Georgia when my daughter was starting college.
Snow is pretty; I enjoy shoveling snow even when it's 3 feet deep. It was rather hard work during that blizzard in 1977 when the drifts were 7 and 8 feet tall. But I shoveled my way out of the house, strapped a wooden box onto an old sled, piled my daughter into the box and walked to Mom's house to visit and shovel her snow.
I think the old one gets, the less attractive snow becomes. The novelty wears off after awhile. The 'Snow Birds' have the right idea; enjoying their retirement years living in the south during the winter and going back up north to enjoy the summer.

We've had actual temp, not windchill, - 25F a few times already this winter. I think it's gonna be a bad one. Some of my family have cattle too, Swayback, but they feed with heated cabs on their tractors and Bobcats so it's not so bad. Although the wind chill while snow shoveling has been pretty rough. My pastor once joked that the Lord must surely give a special dispensation for us folks that live in the cold country. I don't know what that means but if He's given it I'll take it.

A couple of shots of our snow with some of those critter signs Robert was talking about.





They are digging up my flower beds so those tracks aren't something I get to excited about!
I will agree that it takes special people to face the challenges of living in the cold climate! Nuts?

Snow really does not bother me much , storms of over 2 feet happen at least once a year. Ice on the other hand can be tough to deal with. The hardest part is going down the mountain which is 7 miles through state park and watershed land with no houses on it if you do get stuck, on top of that the road is all curves. Working outside was easier when I was a bit younger but now in my mid fifties it is getting a bit harder just cannot keep the feet and hands warm enough.

Yea snows fine, if it's gunna be cold it may as well snow...

Nuts? Yes! Nuts!
If you live in Minnesota you are nuts!

I've actually been told more than once that Kentucky is the coldest place in the world!
Once by a fella from the U P and another from canada!

There's no amount of dressing warm that can save you from 30 and misty rain, which is what our winters now consist of most if the time it seems, that and ice!

I've learned heavy ice makes for excellent tree trimming, especially if it gets real cold after, the ice bows the limbs then they freeze, a shot or 2 from any rifle will shatter them!
So much easier and more fun than tying off and climbing the tree!

I love it!

My father used to tell me he had to walk two miles to and from school, and it was up-hill both ways. Kind of like living in snow-country. Pretty to look at, not to live in.

My kind a' trimmin'

lovemyhouse said:My kind a' trimmin'

Swayback - come to California. Last week, we got 4 days of below freezing ( the lowest night got down to 25 degrees F) and there was frost warnings everywhere. People in snow country must think that we are wimps - which I freely admit that I am one. Days are now back up to the 60's.

When we get visitors in the winter, we would take them up to the Sierra Nevadas to see the snow. That is normally enough exposure to snow for me .

I used to live in MA and CT (and NY and NJ). When I was a young kid in MA, we had a few storms that left drifts deeper than I was. That was cool! Of course, that was when I didn't have to shovel and scrape ice off a car before driving to work on icy hills!

I can still take cold better than heat. Wool socks, several layers, cover head and hands, keep moving - as long as my feet didn't get wet I was OK. I think that indoor heat is cheaper than air conditioning, especially if you have high humidity.

However, I have enough "natural insulation" that my only way to deal with heat and humidity is to strip naked and sit in front of a fan while praying for fall to arrive. Muggy CT summers with periods of 100+ and more than enough 90+ days would turn me into boiled lettuce.

Now that I live near the coast in the PNW, summers are cool and winters are mild.

The "natives" talk about "heat waves" and "it's FREEZING" if temperatures go over 80 or under 40. I'm starting to feel the same way!

I don't miss real winters AT ALL! But I will absolutely take 7 feet of snow over 1/4 inch of ice. I'd much rather shovel than scrape ice, and driving in ice is horrible. Having said that, it is 54° right now at 12:39 am, the high tomorrow will be around 60°, and we'll be in the 70s by the end of next week. "Cold" snaps last about 2.5 days here, and although it does freeze a couple of times every winter, it has only snowed roughly 3 times since I moved down here 15 years ago. The humidity here in Houston is awful, especially in summer, but we stay warmer in the winter than most of the rest of the state, and we don't get as hot in the summer either. I wear my sweater more often in the summer because of air conditioning (Houston is the most air conditioned city in the world) than I do in the winter.

There's a house right around the corner for sale....

Marilyn, I use this mixture on windshields and icy parts:

If freezing rain has your steps, porch and sidewalk icy, this homemade ice melt will work great using items you probably already have.
3 INGREDIENTS:
1. 1 part water.
2. 3 drops dish washing detergent
3. 2 parts rubbing alcohol

Mix all 3 ingredients together and pour into a spray bottle. Coat icy surfaces with this mixture and the ice will quickly be gone. If you don't have a spray bottle, the ingredients can be poured on the ice.

Cali is too far!
That's my ideal choice, an hour or so to the coast, maybe south of the bay area...it's just too far from ours families here, not to mention cost of living!

I think I'd burn out on desert real quick, were also hoping to avoid hard red states, other wise east Texas would be fine with me!

Of course this all fantasy...I'll be stuck here for a long time yet, I'm sure...I guess if I'm fantasizing I might as well just wish to move to tropical Australia...but that's not happening...even though I do have a sponsor, it is rediculously expensive to make move!

I'd also have to cope with not being able to bring a single plant with me, but I'd make it!

Ah, but bringing no plants with you has an advantage. You can go out and buy lots and lots of exotic plants!

Yup, we even have a regular contributor on ATP who lives on an island in Queensland. Betcha could get lots of information, advice...and cuttings!

When do we pack?

@Gleni can answer that one.