Claire's Canadian Capers: Alright, Fine, O-KAY!!

I realize it's been a while since my last post - nearly a month - and I can only plead excessive schoolwork and poor time-management on my part. I'll try to be better, but don't hold your breath.

A little FYI: typing up a literature review on Halloween night - very stupid. Stupid, stupid Claire, with the bad planning and everything, and of course, just as I get a good rhythm going...trick-or-treaters. POOR PLANNING! Anyway...

I've tried to hold off writing this post. It's been rolling around my brain for about a week, but I didn't want to admit weakness. I tried to be strong, to not whine, to have a stiff upper lip and all that...but I can no longer deny the truth.

I'm freezing up here.

What, you didn't hear that?

I'm freezing up here.

C'mon, you must have heard that!

Alright! Fine! O-KAY! I'M FREEZING UP HERE!!! You were all RIGHT, and I am a WUSS, and silly for coming up here in the winter, and I will proclaim it loudly to all and sundry that I was dumb, just make December 12th get here so I can come home and thaw!!!

In other news, it is currently -14 C outside (that's 6 F for you Yanks), and the projected high for tomorrow is -18 C with a low of -29 C (that would be 0 and -20 F). Did I mention it's been snowing all day? Because it has. Lots and lots of snow - except according to Cathie, this isn't that much snow. It seems like a lot to me. This is on top of the light dustings of snow we got last week that did not melt AT ALL, so the new snow is just piling on top. I supposed I should be grateful it's powdery dry snow, but I'm not quite to that place emotionally yet. I was lying awake at about 7:30 this A.M., debating whether I was ready to get up, or sleepy enough to roll back over and doze off, when my dear sweet friend J, who delivers papers, felt the need to inform me that it was going to snow all day, and have really bad wind, a message he concluded with "So prepare for winter in Edmonton!". I don't think it's possible to fully prepare for Edmonton winter, not for this CA girl, at least. Oh, I've got snow tires (thanks, Uncle Walt!), and an appointment for a block heater for my car, and a parka good to -35 F (thanks, Aunti Li for telling me to get one, and thanks, Daddy, for buying it!). I even have TWO pairs of boots, my Uggs from UT (thanks, Mum!) and my birthday boots (thanks, Cath!). I have scarves, and mittens, and gloves, and even a couple of beanies (thanks, Michael, for letting me steal one of the Army beanies Eric gave you!). So physically, I am prepared. It's the whole mental/emotional area where I am unprepared. Seriously, I don't think it's really possible. It's worse when you're told that the REAL cold comes AFTER the snow...I dimly recall some of that from my BYU days, but it wasn't cold on this level, not really.

It's really, really cold here. Did I mention that?

Also, the dry powdery snow that seems to be standard fare here is different from what I am used to in UT. The snow in Provo wasn't super wet, but it was wetter than here, it melted fairly quickly, and I never had trouble telling the difference between the road and the sidewalk there. Here, everything's just WHITE, and you have to be very careful to drive where you see tire tracks, because odds are that's the road, but on some side streets it's touch and go because there's little traffic, and the snow fills in the tire tracks quickly, which wouldn't matter if the sidewalks were all raised up high like back home...but they're NOT. I went visiting teaching tonight...and I drove. It was an adventure, thankfully not one that involved damage to objects, but it was close.

Also, I'm cold. In case you were wondering.

But I think I figured out why everyone drinks coffee at U of A, or at least a factor of it. Starbucks cups are not well insulated, and even with the cardboard slipcovers, your hands heat up fast. So if you forget your gloves, or don't want to mess with them, you can pick up a nice hot coffee and get a handwarmer! I know this because I discovered Starbucks' peppermint hot chocolate, which is almost nuclear when I get it, and I figure the coffee is of a similar temperature. I am fast becoming addicted to it, it's so yummy, and I not only get a handwarmer, but I blend in and disappear, fitting in so comfortably with the college crowd that I feel like an undercover spy, because I, too, have a Starbucks cup in my hands.

I think the cold may be affecting my brain. I told you it's cold here, right? Like, freezing? Actually, technically, below freezing? Because it is. Thought I should mention it.

It's so cold here, I've actually broken my cardinal rule of never allowing the cats to sleep on my bed, because when they do, they make it nice and warm, and then I kick them out right before climbing under the covers. I draw the line at allowing them to sleep in here all night, but I will shamelessly exploit them for heating-pad purposes. Because it's cold.

Need proof? These pictures show the same creek, less than a month apart.