February 2, 1996 was the coldest instrument-measured temperature on record for the state of Minnesota. A location in St. Louis County, three miles south of Tower, recorded -60 degrees F.
At what temp do snowbirds migrate south? At what temp do they pick up their cell phone and call to say it’s 87 above in Yuma, just to ask us, knowing, it’s well below zero, so they can laugh and laugh yet again.
He hung up chuckling. I scratched at some frost on the kitchen window. I looked at the new electronic thermometer, toasty inside, brrrrr frosty outside, and with the winds, the windchills must be ridiculous.
At my age, we no longer check, we just ring a scarf around our nose and ears like a dog uses its tail, and like any dog, they have to go outside, which means so do I.
As I haul in some firewood, a chickadee flits by nonetheless for the weather. I have several layers, they are a marvel of feathered ingenuity to be sure, such a tiny bird. I shivered and tucked back in the house. It’s not 87 in our home, and, he ain’t got chickadees, which makes me feel all the warmer.
- The Trout Whisperer
