Winter Fun in the Frozen Tundra

You know, the irony of it all is that when I moved to Dallas I felt like I was moving somewhere kind of 'out there', but this is truly a strange planet that I've landed on, here in northwest Wisconsin. I know that it's kind of cliche, but you wonder what on earth settlers were thinking. Take today for example: it's December 13th, so naturally it should be a bit chilly -- after all, we are within 8 days of winter technically beginning -- but the high is 5, and the low is -14... That's just ridiculous! I know the three seasons not called winter are amazing up here, but still! 5/-14 is no way to live!

Sunday morning we got up early to assess the damage from the blizzard that hit us on Saturday and to try to get things cleared off enough so that we could make it to Mass. We had 2-3 foot snow drifts across the upper part of the driveway all the way to the garage, but luckily the bottom half of the drive had been blown clean by the 30-40 mph winds. As we hurriedly shoveled a slender path for the snow panther to slink through, the temperature hovered around 0, with a gentle breeze providing for a wind chill of -10 or so. Needless to say, my glasses were quickly covered with fog, and then frost. I took them off and put them in my pocket. Big mistake.

"He gone!"

Crestfallen, despondent, dispirited, and inconsolable, I lamented the passing of my faithful companion. I had loved these glasses. Luckily, we'd taken an old pair from my parents this summer and I wasn't left totally in the dark -- though it would have been nice to be half-blind from 3:15 to 6:15 p.m. while the Bears were getting destroyed yesterday afternoon...

The experience of shattered plastic made me wonder though, how do people with glasses deal with it on Hoth? Then again, do people where glasses in that far-away galaxy? I know they wear protective eye-wear, but corrective eye-wear? Not sure. I'll leave that one up to you experts out there.

Nevertheless, it is amazing how Hoth-like it is here. The snow drifts truly look glacial, and at night it is certainly cold enough to freeze a tauntaun. That's why Steph and I are getting each other these for Christmas:

Mike Fontenot in a Tauntaun Bag.