How do you feel about cold weather?

Cold weather is not something I am fond of. It can get bitterly cold where I live and we usually have a few days with subzero temperatures during the winter. The cold weather brings with it snow and ice, poor driving conditions and power outages.

If you work outside, the cold can be dangerous. Exposed skin can get frostbitten. Equipment can stall, get stuck or not operate properly in the extreme cold. Shoveling snow can result in a heart attack or pneumonia.

If you need to make a trip outside to go to work, go to the store or run errands, the cold makes everything more difficult. Pushing a shopping cart out to your car through snow and ice is not fun. Attempting to walk on ice is impossible.

Power outages during cold weather are the worst, too. You have no heat and are in real trouble if your pipes freeze. Turning off the water to your house and running all the water out of the pipes can save your pipes, or leaving the water running just a little can also help keep pipes from freezing.

And last, but not least, are the short days that coincide with cold weather. When the sun sets at 5:00 p.m., it is common to suffer from fatigue and depression. Some people get seasonal affective disorder. Older adults have difficulty driving in the dark, and it’s now dark all evening, so they may stay in much more and face more isolation.

I do not like the cold weather at all. However, since I am not moving anytime soon, I see a lot more winters of cold weather in my future.