As I write this, it looks like and feels like the winters I experienced up here fifty years ago. One winter we had snow, freezing rain, snow, and it repeated several times. I could walk on it without breaking through. The frost line used to be four or more feet deep freezing water lines from the main to the homes. That may be the winter with 20 to 25 degrees below zero nights and days not reaching zero.

            A few years ago the TV meteorologists fell in love with the Polar Vortex term to gain attention. Like today’s cold weather it is for a few days but not weeks. People will point out these snaps as global warming being a myth. Overall the winters have been so light a vortex is an anomaly. Younger people will remember the last fifteen to twenty winters as their base memory and not know how winters were before Global Warming.

            Youngsters, I have a parka and long thermal underwear left from those winters. Somewhere I have very heavy socks to wear in my old rubber boots and several neck scarves to keep out the frigid wind. Today I wear a light jacket over the sweatshirt I wear inside my home and a headband over my ears when I am outside.

            I don’t miss locking up my lungs for over a minute while trying to take a breath, after getting hit by a sudden gust of wind, or busting through 4 to 5 foot drifts to get home. Nope, those weren’t the good ole winters.