Winter Gear

While Southern and Central Western Canada are all staying indoors due to the massive, several day long blizzard that is crashing our complete end of the country, those of us further North are instead shivering under the arctic air that is pushing the blizzard to the South.

I woke up this morning to - 35 Celcius temperatures that are expected to fall throughout the next several days, finally reaching bottom at - 45 over the next few days.

Serious winter.

As I tromped my daily mile up to school this morning through this weather, I was thinking about all of the people who probably never see this weather (lucky them).

Here are my essentials:

Scarf, mitts, and toque. Good leather mitts (not gloves, mitts keep your fingers much warmer when they are close together), a good thick wool scarf (its not meant to be pretty, its meant to be warm) and a toque with braids down the side letting you tuck them under your scarf keeping it tight to your head and your ears warm.

Sorel Boots: No, they don't pay me, but I'd support them if they did. These are best boots I've ever owned. A grand total of about 5 pounds, thick liners, and about a 2.5 inch sole keeping you up high off of the cold ground. I can go out at night with my telescope and stand on the frozen lake and come home with feet that are not just not cold, but are warm.

Parka with Coyote Fur: Yes the fur is real. Coyote fur does not frost up and bring more cold around your face. It stays clear allowing you to see more around you when you have your hood up. Also, this is a 3/4 length coat going well below my waist keeping me even warmer.

Timbuk 2 bag and iPod: The only bag I've owned that can handle the cold weather without cracking and of course, something to keep me entertained on the walk up.

What is missing is ski pants. While I don't usually wear them, today, when I arrived at school and had legs that were numb, I was thinking about my ski pants hanging in my basement at home.

So enjoy your summer weather in the South and see what you don't need to put on just to go outside each day.

Day you know how long it takes to get a class of grade one kids ready to go outside for recess with all of this gear?

Comments

[Graham Wegner]

I've been reading and viewing quite a bit about the North American big freeze and you are absolutely right, it is something us way, way down south (hemisphere) don't experience. I know it's not the same as being there but having access to your descriptions, the YouTube video I viewed yesterday from Daryl Pearson's Year 6 class in Meadow Lake via Dean Shareski, and Chris Harbeck's snow pics on Flickr means that the students I teach can gain some valuable awareness of how else winter can look! Here as we plan trips to the beach or extra rounds of golf before the holidays end, things couldn't be more different weather wise. And y'know before blogging, I never gave much thought to how people were spending their time all around the globe. This is the year I use technology to get my students wondering.... thanks once again, Clarence. I haven't commented here since early '06 but you always post something thought provoking even though this post probably wasn't designed to do that. By the way, it'll be 37 deg C here in Adelaide by Monday!

[Don McLean]

I think I might swap your extremes of cold for the miserable weather we've been having over the past weeks/ months!

Huge quantities of rain falling over Scotland accompanied by severe gales. Ferries disrupted, roads closed, buildings damaged. Our classrooms quickly become humid and wet when the kids come in from outside.

Happy days! ;)

[Kathy Cassidy]

Yep, I do know how long it takes to get a class of grade one students ready to go outside in the winter. When the temperature dips way below freezing, our day is significantly shortened as I help with stuck zippers, fix the straps on ski pants and re-tie scarves that don't cover noses.

[Clarence Fisher]

That's interesting Kathy that you should leave a comment on this post as it was exactly you that I was thinking of when I wrote those lines about grade one students. The first taching job I had whne I moved back to Snow Lake was a grade one class of 26 kids. I started in January and had never worked with people this small before. It was a very interesting time of year to be introduced to them.

And Graham.... 37 degrees.... I'm not sure whether I'm jealous or not.....

[Bee]

I will definitely show this post to my students when we start school end of January, sweating again at the peak of summer.
Sending you some vibrant colours to warm you up :-)
Hmm...it strips my links...you´ll have to find them on Flickr.