Calgary -37 +windchill Daughter= frostbite

-5 block walk / run...no hat ,,, no gloves
-tears froze IN eyes... couldn't see
-couldn't open door ... hands frozen ... unbendable hands and fingers that felt like they would break if she bumped them
-ears bright red very HUGE she says, swollen now
-thumbs bright red very swollen now

-fear ... that she was going to lose her hands
-fear ... homeless people and pets / animals

-now? thawing out after advice from hospital She's ok ... frostbitten. Hospital told her NOT to re-expose to outside ...

having hot-chocolate, warm bath, eyes opened about weather and mortality.

Calls to Mom ... to talk.

My darling young daughter was raised in mild BC.
I was raised in Manitoba, where when you say -20 thats FARENHEIT ...not celcius!

WINTER .....it's no joke, my friends.

Manitoba winter, 25 yrs ago, childhood sweetheart and 3 friends out 4-wheeling, back country road. 20miles from civilization and help. Ran out of gas and the fill wasn't filled (someone forgot to check) Sweetheart ... got back, almost without his life. Lost his feet. Lost his 3 friends. They froze on the way ...

DRESS RIGHT - mother nature is powerful...

says PIXIE WITCH!

(my daughter is a little frostbitten and has learned a major lesson ... she's stunned! )

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

Carman...
Why I remember growing up in the maritimes...Snow drifts 10 feet high..Carrying a sack of coal to school for the pot belly stove in a two room school house..up hill..both ways...
-30 Farenheit..windy as he**...colder than a well diggers ankle...
Just like Sean goes through every winter..
Nothing changes...Only in Canada ..you say..

Originally posted by Alex Blair
Carman...
Why I remember growing up in the maritimes...Snow drifts 10 feet high..Carrying a sack of coal to school for the pot belly stove in a two room school house..up hill..both ways...
-30 Farenheit..windy as he**...colder than a well diggers ankle...
Just like Sean goes through every winter..
Nothing changes...Only in Canada ..you say..

Oh my,my,my. You DO bring back some memories Alex.
I've never been back east farther than Manitoba, except for one summer to Kapuskasing, Ont.

I remember coal. I didn't have to carry it though I DO remember rain barrels filled with snow to melt for laundry and washing/bathing. I remember no electricity or running water ... those old irons you heat on the stove, Mom bending over washtub (bathtub) scrubbing laundry on a scrub board for her and us four kids ... one stove in the kitchen to heat the whole house. Always mittens and scarves and things drying on the warming oven (not many places back home had electricity when I was little) coil oil lamps.

Cold? Hmmmm. Frozen sheets and clothes on the line. Why hang them out when they have to be dried from thawing???

Do you have pictures Alex?

(just talked to the kid ... her thumbs and ears are still very very sore... remember just how very long the blocks are in Calgary)

bye

It was -47 celcius with windchill.

What the heck is that in farenheit?

I still don't "think metric" after all these years.

Yappy

[Garry Shipton (RIP)]

-40 whether in Farenheit or Celsius doesn't matter any more.It's the same temperature.Right now wearing my air force arctic parka to work.My buddy is wearing his Signal Corp parka also.We're getting looks when we disembark at the downtown bus terminal.Looks like a military invasion!!

Well ... this is 3/4 days after the frostbite for my daughter, last nite, her ears still sore, but her thumbs were still very sore.

Poor kid and lucky kid ... -47 with windchill. Last nite the news said it was (Wpg?) -51 with windchill ... and at that it takes 2 MINUTES FOR SKIN TO FREEZE! God. Impressive mama nature.

I worry about my daughters hands. She's musical. Has perfect pitch. Plays piano by ear, and guitar now too. Her LOVE is music. Mine too, but Inever didanything with it. It dried up. However, her dad is VERY accomplished and versatile ...so it runs in the bloodboth sides. My side not masters tho Think fiddles and jigs reels (Rupertsland roots )... guitars and voices. No training or pretentions COOL, just one heckuva a great time.

Hands ... the other perk and eye opener my kid gotwhat she couldn't use, and feared losing her hands was ...... EMPATHY for my rheumatoid arthritis and tendonitis when i can't care for myself or do simple things like grip knife to slice soft butter, open doors, dress, lifta cup, whatever...argh... SHE GET's IT now!

Natures little lessons... and what has nature taught YOU?