Every year, sometime in early March, I get the Cold Crazies. Some people call it the
winter blues, climbing the walls or seasonal affective disorder; basically
we’ve all gone temporarily bat shit crazy. There are different triggers for each
person, and I’m sure there are a few truly crazy people out there who are never
bothered by months and months of cold, snowy, short days weather. To them I
blow a great big fat raspberry!
This year
my cold crazies arrived early and hit harder. Part of that is it’s a
presidential election year. Politicians of ALL parties make me crazy and I tend
to yell at them through the TV (I KNOW the government is listening to me
through the TV, so it’s a much quicker communication method than writing emails
or twattering.)
The second
reason the crazies arrived early is warm weather. Oh sure, you think that would
be welcome…well it’s not. It’s
mid-February! This should be prime get-out-and-play snow season; instead it’s
avalanche danger-filled slopes up high and early mud-season below. It even
rained most of yesterday and I live at almost 7000 feet in altitude. Instead of
being able to snow machine, snowshoe, snow ski or snow sled, I’m stuck inside
watching Gilligan’s Island reruns. I even played monopoly against myself
yesterday. Damn Mediterranean Avenue kicked my ass. The irony of the balmy
Mediterranean wasn’t lost on my snarly attitude either.
I’ve also
grown weary of needing to wear sunglasses inside my house or close all the
curtains in the daytime. We have a wall
of floor to ceiling windows, which are great for allowing sun in to warm up the
house and for a fabulous view. However, that also means when the sun reflects
off the snow and in the windows it blinds you like someone is constantly
shining a spotlight in your eyes. It literally becomes a form a torture. It’s
one thing to wear sunglasses or goggles every moment you are outside, it’s
quite another to not be able to walk from your kitchen to the family room
without going snow-blind.
With actual
spring over two months away, (we have over two feet of snow on the ground, with
piles of plowed snow towering over six feet, and it WILL snow again, and again,
and again in that time,) many mountain dwellers are getting out of Dodge. It’s the best cure for the cold crazies,
since throwing rocks at our big screen TV is frowned on by George.