I Think I Have Winter Brain Freeze

Across the Fence #324

The sun is sinking, as fast as the temperature, on another frigid day in the Frozen Tundra. We’re trapped in a bitter cold spell that seems to make a week-long appearance every January. It’s as welcome as a visitor knocking at your door with bad news or the arrival of a plague epidemic.

How cold was it lately? It was so cold I had to thaw my thoughts out before I could see what I was thinking, so I could write this column. We hit 21 below zero the other morning here in Sherpeland. That was the real temperature, not the wind chill. I don’t even want to know what that was. Last night it was ten below. To put it in simple terms, it’s darn cold. I imagine most of you are enjoying it as much as I am.

Last night the air was still and everything was quiet. Not even a branch was moving in the grove of trees near the house. No birds or wildlife were stirring as the sun was setting. I hope they all found some shelter to spend the night. This weather is hard on our feathered friends. It’s costing me a small fortune in birdseed to keep them fed.

My mother liked to say that we shouldn’t worry about things because God will take care of us. She was referring to a Bible verse: “Consider the ravens (birds) of the field, for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse or barn; and God feedeth them; How much more are ye better than the fowls?” It was her way of saying, “Don’t spend all your time worrying about things. If he watches out for the tiny birds, he’ll surely watch out for you.”

While I was feeding the birds that feed in our backyard and at the feeder in the grove of trees, I remembered her words. Those words don’t say how the birds would be fed. I think the answer to that question is that he has me feed the birds — at least around our place. That way the little critters have enough energy to stay warm and not freeze to death.

As most of you should know by now, I like to question and examine everything, and ask probing questions. I don’t take everything I read as gospel. I’m always looking for the rest of the story. Knowing what I know now, and have observed about life and death, I find the words about birds being fed an oversimplification of a complex situation. I have to ask the question, what about the estimated 100,000 people around the world that starve to death every day because they don’t have enough to eat? Who’s watching out for them?

Those are things I think and wonder about, even during hot weather, but this cold weather seems to magnify the questions in my mind. I guess you could say this frigid weather has caused me to experience brain freeze. That’s like when you come in from outside and your glasses fog over so you can’t see a thing until they clear up. It’s an accepted part of life in the Frozen Tundra.

I got a kick out of the news broadcasts today. They were telling about the frigid weather they were experiencing along the east coast. The temperatures were slightly below zero in some places, and it was as if life had come to a standstill because it was too cold to do anything. Welcome to our world.

Here in the upper Midwest, we wear our ability to withstand cold weather like a badge of courage. Its business as usual on those below zero days. We just add more layers of clothes, pull our stocking cap down over our ears, put on a facemask if it’s really cold, and make sure we have a pair of jumper cables in the car. We’re prepared, even if we don’t like this kind of weather.

Just as the birds near us know that food will be provided for them, we know that longer daylight hours and warmer weather will eventually arrive. The blanket of snow and ice will be slowly stripped away and new life will emerge. Before you know it, people will be complaining about the heat and humidity. As for me, I’ll take the heat any day. You can only put on so many layers of clothing to stay warm, before it gets hard to move around because you’re so restricted in all those clothes. On the positive side, all those layers can hide extra pounds and sagging bodies. That’s a lot harder to hide in hot weather.

When it gets hot out, I can always strip down to nothing but a pair of shorts, sit in the shade, listen to the wonderful sound of the wind blowing through the leaves, and let the cool breeze that always whips across the prairie, cool me off. It’s the same breeze that brings 35 below wind chill readings in January. Somehow that breeze feels a lot more comfortable and welcome in July. Let that be a lesson to all of us. What is negative in one situation can be a positive in another situation.

As for now, I’ll bundle up, kick back in my recliner, let my brain thaw out, and dream of those warm, summer days that will be here before we know it.