Monday, March 14, 2011

On Being Freezerburned

I snapped this on a trip to Alaska several years ago.
Freezer-burn: 
Dictionary.com describes it as light-colored spots that appear on frozen food, caused by loss of surface mositure due to faulty packaging or improper freezing methods.

I personally describe it as something that happens to a person when they've spent far too much of their life being cold. So many years of living Alaska did that to me. I'm still thawing out.

I chose freezerburned as an e-mail address about 20 years ago and have received a lot of comments over the years about it. Anyone who has ever lived in the interior of Alaska, namely Fairbanks, for any length of time, can relate to the feeling of being freezer-burned.  After a long, cold, dark winter, you feel like a survivor.  Just when you don't think you can take one more day of extreme coldness, the temps will rise 30 degrees and you find yourself outside in zero degree weather with a t-shirt on. When I see my friends and family commenting on FB about the extreme weather, it takes me back. 
Taken several years ago while in Fairbanks for Thanksgiving
As much as I love Alaska and consider myself an Alaskan, I'm glad I don't survive there any longer. I was born in California, and I truly don't believe I was "made" to live in cold places.  Tri-Cities is colder than I thought it would be but thankfully it's not so extreme that I can't handle it. This is our 3rd winter here and I have to say I am at the point  I spoke of earlier. I wake up thinking I can't take one more day of the cold, gray and rain and then the sun will be shining. It happened on Saturday. We had a beautiful day. Yesterday ... not so much. 

I've discovered I sometimes need a rainy day. It makes me appreciate the sunny ones even more. It was really awesome to just sit curled up with a blanket and a bowl of popcorn to watch a movie. I can't remember the last time I've done that.  Soon, we'll be spending our weekends motorcycling and trying to find time to mow the lawn.  Having said that, the rain can go away anytime now and I'll be mucho happy about it!

In the meantime, I'm glad I haven't put my turtlenecks away just yet. The rain this weekend has chilled me to the bone. Even with the thermostat turned up to 70, I can't seem to warm up. I'm freezerburned .... 


love, susan

2 comments:

  1. Haha, good post Susan. It made me think of living in Ketchikan, and Kodiak where it rains a lot and how I dislike wet cold more than dry cold. Exactly how I dislike humid heat but can tolerate dry heat.
    I was always chilled in Kodiak in the winter. It could be 34 degrees out but if it was raining....brrrrrrr. Now here in Palmer we have WIND!!! Thats biting. chilly, cold. Can't wait for summer and to hear about your rides.
    Dani

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  2. My kids live in WI, and when I go to visit them I freeze to death! They tease me because they assume that just because I live in interior AK, I should be able to handle it. It feels much colder there than it does here!

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