Man, it's freeeeeeezin'

I got this great email below that really summed up last week...

' WINTER '

by Abigail Elizabeth McIntyre

Crap.... It's Cold

The End

We got some snow 'round these parts.
Our fifth generation native-Floridian children didn't know what in the world it was or what to do with it, and as you can see from their brave, (no, not brave), half-witted fourth generation native-Floridian mother, they probably won't get good coaching on how to keep their feet warm in the snow. Yes, I wore those flip flops outside to collect and take pictures of the snow. Good heavens.
The orange tree in our front yard did ok. Just ok. I couldn't get any more of an answer out of my fourth generation orange grower husband. I think his gut is telling him it will be okay, but his logic is telling him to not get my hopes up because I'll spread the joy to our neighbors and family members who really enjoy its fruit. This picture was taken after the freezes, right before I invited my grandpa (who would eat an orange every day if he had his druthers) to come over and harvest the entire crop. I thought there were so many oranges, they looked like a "bunch" of grapes.
We were especially hit hard north of us. This is what, believe it or not, protects the tree; running water on it constantly. Jim took this picture at his work, Monday January 11th. I believe it got down to 15 degrees and when he showed up at work earlier than usual that morning, this is what daybreak revealed.
Us Florida folk aren't prepared for cold weather; but rather than bring down the whole state, I'll just speak for myself. I don't have the right clothes for it, nor do I have the patience for bundling up children who get hot in the car 30 seconds down the road. I don't even have the experience to know how to dress if we're truly going from a warm building, to a warm car, back to another warm building. Are all those layers needed for a total of 2-3 minutes in the cold? I don't even own a pair of gloves. We don't have a good place for all the jackets that collect near the door. My husband goes to great lengths to make sure our pipes don't freeze and 90% of the time, I forget to turn off the warming lights the next day. The car of a true Floridian is who I feel sorry for also. Ice on the windshield has to wait for the defrost to clear it - who has an ice scraper handy? And forget the water hose to clear the ice because its frozen also in addition to the windshield wiper fluid! My sweaters are packed up so well and high and out of sight that I forget I have them.

More practice would make me better at all this; but I'm so glad I don't get more of it.

From what I hear, the last time it was cold like this was the late 80s, early 90s. Thank goodness it only comes around every 20-30 years.