Wednesday, February 15, 2006
BRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!
It was cold out there, bitter, biting, cutting,
piercing, hyperborean, marmoreal cold, and there were all these Minnesotans running around outdoors, happy as lambs in the spring.--Charles Kuralt
I'm a wimp when it comes to cold. Anything less than 70 degrees Farenheit, and I start dressing in layers and top it all off with a heavy coat. I know, I know--I'm a stereotypical southern Californian. But just in case you're wondering, no I don't live at the beach or drive a convertible.
I know I shouldn't complain when there are people in New York who are enduring a particularly nasty cold snap and one of the largest snowfalls on record (2 ft) for this time of year, but like I already said, I'm a wimp.
Yesterday I was up at Camp Pendleton doing some work. It wasn't field work this time, so I dressed as I usually do for working indoors--slacks, short sleeve blouse, and a light 3/4 sleeve sweater. In all honesty I expected to ditch the sweater by midmorning thinking I would be nice and warm. Boy was I wrong! The building I was in was extremely cold. I was shivering practically all day. At one point I went outside to stand in a patch of sunshine, thinking that might warm me up a bit, but there was such a cold breeze blowing, that it only made things seem colder. I am convinced that my body burned up much of its reserve energy just trying to get warm. By the time I got home I was completely exhausted.
After dinner I put on my warmest flannel pajamas (the ones Brad picked out for me as a gift our 1st Christmas), covered my feet with nice thick Winnie the Pooh slipper socks, and crawled into bed. Brad covered me up with 2 extra blankets, and I slept like a rock until morning. I hardly moved at all. It felt so good to be warm.
The whole experience reminded me that it is very important that I keep working hard to put on additional weight. When I'm underweight (like right now), not only am I not able to keep warm, but I have less energy in reserve. I was disappointed that my workday took all the energy out of my that I would have much rather spent enjoying celebrating Valentine's Day with my husband.
Oh well. At least I made him a nice dinner :)
