Shooting Photos on COLD Winter Days

     Why do I want my house a warm seventy-six degrees in winter and on a hot steamy summer day I want it a chilly sixty-eight. It's one of those oddities I can't figure out, but last week it has been COLD! No doubt about it winter is finally here, the ground is rock solid and overnight temperatures are in the single digits.

The snow was so light on cold day it could be cleared with a leaf blower.

     Luckily, the lingering cough and runny nose I had were finally showing signs of ending just as the arctic blast hits the area.  There is nothing worse for me than to be out shooting photos with a fever and feeling like I'm frozen to the bone.
     No getting around it, I can't hide in the office and wait for it to pass. The news of the day will have something to do with the weather and I have to cover whatever happens outdoors.
     So out I go looking for photos with my hat pulled way down over my ears, gloves on and a hooded sweatshirt adding another layer of clothing before I button up my winter coat. I feel like the character Randy in the movie Christmas Story who was so heavily bundled up for a walk to school he couldn't put his arms down.
     The first day or two is tough and I'm shivering not yet adjusted after several weeks of milder weather. But, once I'm out for several days I get used to it and not affected as much. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to stay out all afternoon. I don't know how borough workers can repair broken water mains with water soaking them. Wrangling with tools in these muddy holes and trying to bolt down collars over cracked pipes. This has got to be one of the tougher jobs when the wind blows so cold.
     When it snowed last week I could drive around any corner and find a page one photo while I looked for daily coverage of the storm. With the large snowflakes falling residents were on it right away shoveling, salting and cleaning off vehicles. But as the winter gets longer and the weather continues people tire of the snow and the cold and just stay inside. It's as if they wave a white flag and give up to Mother Nature.
     I looked on line to see if  freezing temperatures over a period of time helps kill off germs.  The answer was no as noted by various scientific folks. I still prefer a good week of these frozen days. The air seems cleaner and better to breath. And it can't hurt to freeze up the moldy, soggy ground after all the rainy days in the forties this winter.
     So I'm not going to complain as I slog around on a bitter windy day. I know it's not going to last forever. Ground Hog Day is this Saturday, so at worst ole Pux'y Phil will give us is another six weeks of bad weather. That's not so tough to take though winter does seem to last longer than summer.
     The other day I walked into The Mercury building bundled up and definitely not making a fashion statement. The workers downstairs didn't envy me for having to go outside and were content to work at their desks.
     So I reminded them laughing that when the calender changes to May with temperatures starting to climb and Spring Fever affecting every worker, that I earned my days out shooting pictures under the sun after working through all those dreary days of winter.