Some call it SAD (seasonal affective disorder), but out here on America’s frozen tundra we call it cabin fever, and like everything else in our climate we natives just cope with it.

Winter is not very conducive to outdoor activity, and if you have any doubts, just drop what you’re doing right now and take a walk around your block without donning your winter garb.

Unlike spring, summer or fall, our winter weather around here is dangerous, and as such we northern prairie folks don’t go outside unless we have to. Going outside involves bundling up in parkas, gloves, boots, hats or hoods that cover our ears, and sometimes scarves that cover our mouths to prevent the frozen air from freezing the hair in our noses and lungs… and that’s why we don’t go outside in the winter unless we have to.

Although we natives have a tendency to acclimate, most of us had to learn things the hard way. My experience with this goes back to the ’70s when I frostbit my cheeks and nose. I was working for Toman Engineering and assigned to survey the alley behind the old Cloverdale creamery (which used to be where the Starion ATM machine by Central Market is today). There were steam grates imbedded in the alley and we needed the elevations, and I had to stand over the grates with a leveling rod while Bernie Leingang ran the level.

It was 30 below and I stood on the grates enshrouded in a steady mist of steam, and although the project only took about a half hour, my uncovered cheeks and naked nose froze. When we got back to the office my nose and the frozen area around my cheeks had taken on an ugly gray tinge and the tip of my nose felt like an ice cube… and once they started to thaw it felt like a thousand needles were poking my face.

The next day my face looked sunburned. A couple weeks later my nose and cheeks peeled and today my face is extremely sensitive to cold, so I’ve learned to wear a face mask whenever I have to go outside for more than a few minutes in below zero weather.

So as I converse with folks from all over the country who ask, how can you guys survive such cold spells? I answer with we’ve learned to cover up when we go outside and we don’t go outside unless we have to.

And so here we are inside looking out the window, watching TV, playing on our computers, napping, sitting on our couches, constantly checking our fridges for munchies and wishing we could go outside… which all leads to a case of cabin fever, and as you can tell, I’ve been infected.

Both my loyal readers might recall that last week I captured 60 years of my life on one page, so this week I ended up encapsulating an entire weekend in a paragraph. 

I spent most of last weekend looking for something to do and settled on two treks to Cappuccino on Collins, a trek to the Cabin Fever car show, interspersed with treks back home to look out the window in hopes that I might find another reason to get out or the house, a bit of snow shoveling, Sunday school, a couple of workouts and even though I’m not a Vikings fan, I scheduled in the big game… and between all that excitement I found myself I in bed by 9 p.m. thinking that tomorrow would bring us one day closer to spring.

So here’s hoping that you’re able to stay warm whilst doing whatever you gotta do to get by…