A girl putting groceries into the trunk of her car shouted out "I'm freezing!", the other day in the parking lot of the supermarket across the from where I was loading my own groceries into my pick up. I asked her if she was OK and if she needed any help and she politely declined. "You have your hands full there", or something like came from between her chattering teeth.
I really understood her. The wind was blowing fairly hard and so, even for up here in the North Country of Vermont where you'd expect people to be more or less used to it already, she was close to calling for help.
Last night was something else again. Minus twenty three was what the NOAA weather station was reporting for the low and I read minus fifteen when I went to let the dog out and feed him. I watched him pulling his hind legs up one at a time off the icy ground as if it was red hot. It was the first time I'd seen him do that. I let him in the house for a minute to warm up. "It wasn't the cold or the wind", I thought. "There was something trying to kill us!" I took it as a challenge and assumed an attitude that the dog picked up immediately and started to bark at it. And here we were, the both of us, each in our own way barking back at the cold. It made me laugh and the dog jumped all up and down like he does when we play. "Not us, we're not afraid of the cold - are you kidding!"
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