The blizzard did not live up to its hype. The Cape Cod Times reports this morning we have 7 or 8 inches of snow here in Dennis though it looks like more in some places because of the drifting. My car had very little snow on it, but my back step had so much snow Gracie chose to jump over it rather than step into the drift, but she had no problem going down the stairs into the backyard as the snow wasn’t too high for her. Today is sunny and cold with a temperature around 19˚. Tonight will be in the single digits, but by Saturday it will be in the 30’s. Maybe I’ll even sit on the deck and catch the sun. I’d have to shovel first of course.

This is only our second snow storm so I suppose complaints aren’t warranted, but I hate how cold it is and how cold it has been from all those incursions by the polar region. Given a choice, though, I choose being cold over being hot. When it’s hot, there are only a few ways to get cooler, excluding central air of course. You can sit in front of a fan going full blast, take cold showers or go swimming, a temporary reprieve at best. But when you’re cold, you can bundle up, snuggle under a down comforter, layer or just stay in the warm house with the heat cranking. It is just so much easier to get warm.

When I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana, the heat in the Upper Region was interminable this time of year. I’d sit in my living room reading, and when I’d stand up, my sweaty imprint would be on the chair cushions like the chalk outline of the victim at a murder scene. I had no fan so a cold shower was my only way to beat the heat. I’d take one just before bed, not dry off, go inside to sleep and let the air dry me, sort of my own cooling system. Most times I could fall asleep. During the day, though, I lived in a condition of perpetual sweat whenever I did anything. It wasn’t pretty.

I’ll complain about the cold now and in August I’ll complain about the heat. That seems to be part of the human condition, the complaining I mean.