Baby it's Cold Outside

I'm sure you're all thinking, sure, the guys says he's going to do a new blog every Friday and then he doesn't even make it two weeks in a row! Well, for your information...I did have this blog done yesterday but we had an opportunity to do a new fundraiser for our charity, Hoops for Hope, and although I love BDandLL, Hoops for Hope and a cure for cancer will always trump it! Also...I know how you all are such visual readers so I needed a little extra time to put in some sweet pictures...

Everything Irie...those are some pretty sexy Brumwell's!

I was going to do my next blog on customer service here, but today gave me a little different idea. I was outside earlier today, the sun was shining and I was thinking to myself…it sure is a nice day! I then proceeded to jump into my car and saw that my thermometer said that the outside temperature was negative 13 degrees (that’s Fahrenheit for our Canadian readers…about negative 25 Celsius).

I then started thinking about some of the comments I’ve seen on Facebook and other social networking sites, when people post photos of the temperature being something like negative 30 without the wind chill…most comments go something along the lines of, “yeah, we get it. It’s cold.” But that’s kind of what brought me to want to approach this topic. I think unless you live in one of the very cold states like Minnesota or North Dakota, you simply don’t get the cold. When it was negative 13 degrees today, I was out in my sweat pants and sweatshirt and I considered it to be a nice day. If you know me, I’m considered to be one of the biggest babies when it comes to cold temperature. I also just bought new traction running shoes so that I could start jogging outside again because I felt like it was starting to get nice enough to do that.

This is nothing, but you all know my thoughts on NPR...

To many, the people in the cold states are crazy for living here, but I honestly love Minnesota. I love that we have four very distinct seasons, even if winter is the longest one. That makes us tough skinned and ready for just about anything. Our summers are blistering hot, our springs are generally as wet as you can get (be it rain, or more than likely a few late snow storms), and our falls, albeit short, are beautiful and everything that one may think of when that season comes to mind.

Despite all of these “harsh” conditions we also happen to have the reputation as the hardest working, friendliest people in the United States. We don’t generally take circumstances or each other for granted and we have a general like for our fellow man. There are always exceptions to this, but for the most part I think people from around here generally have pretty good heads on their shoulders and hearts in their chests...or on their sleeves! 

The other thing I was thinking about while pondering our climate and why we chose to live here was that we generally have a reputation for being overweight compared to much of the rest of the country. As I was contemplating my run today in negative 13 degree weather I thought to myself…well no shit? You have to be extremely dedicated, or brain frozen to get out and get exercise during the winter months in the northern states. But still we find ways to do it. Be it cross country skiing, snow shoeing, snowmobiling (surprisingly a pretty good work out), or even just going out in the negative x degree weather to go for a walk or a run (which with the snow and ice, is never an easy endeavor). Sure, you could always spend your time at the gym running in a stationary position on a treadmill, which many of us still do, but it’s not only less boring to run outside in nature, but the sheer beauty of it makes it so much more rewarding, and from experience I can say that I get a far better workout running outside then on a treadmill.

So I say, if we have one fit guy or girl to four or five Californians, Texans, or Floridians…then we’re doing pretty darn well for ourselves! Physical fitness is one of the things that they say that when you’re older you look back and say, I really wish I would have kept in better shape. So, even though we live in the cold states, try and take advantage of the different methods of exercise we have here. I went snow shoeing when it was twenty below during muzzle loader season and I had to stop several times as I was completely winded and sweating my ass off…hopefully literally! Great exercise and a great way to still experience all of the beauty Minnesota winters have to offer!

This blog is starting to sound like an Explore Minnesota campaign, huh? Sure, our company is a part of the organization…but I honestly love our state, so be it!
 

The whole point I was trying to make when I started this blog was that we endure a lot in our state, but we also get to enjoy the splendor of one of the most beautiful and diverse states in the United States. It might be tougher for us to explore our state then some of the others, and you hear of “snowbirds” and other residents trying to escape the cold Minnesota winters all of the time, but after we have our forty or fifty below days, then twenty below or warmer starts to feel pretty darn good. We’re adaptable, thick skinned, and some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. But, if you see one of us with a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or whatever source of social media post about how cold it is…run. If we think its cold, it’s fucking cold (and I don’t like to swear…but that’s an actual measurement of coldness for us northerners)!