How Cold Is It?

It's colder than a brass toilet seat on the shady side of an iceburg.

It's so cold, I had to kick a hole in the air just to get out my front door.

It's so cold, Tim Hortons is selling hot chocolate by the slice.

It's so cold, Emma can only play as far as the extension cord will let her.

It's so cold, I actually saw Richard Simmons wearing pants.

That's probably enough. We've barely left the house since Saturday due to the incredible deep freeze the city of Calgary is experiencing this week. It's been consistantly below -40 with the wind chill since Sunday, and it's only starting to creep up to around -10 today.

I've been working from home all week, as there is no furnace system in my office yet, and no place to plug in a car for that matter, and with the baby being due at any moment, I didn't want to risk being stranded in Crossfield when the moment finally arrives.

Both Tammy and I have ventured out a few times for various reasons, but poor Emma has been cooped up in the house for the longest period of time in her entire young life. She's starting to show signs of cabin fever, so I think we'll try and go out somewhere tonight.

It was during a cold snap like this last year that our furnace broke down and we paid what seemed like a ridiculous fee at the time to get it fixed. Turns out prices for such services have gone up, along with everything else in Calgary, but thankfully we've had no troubles with it this time around - knock on wood - conserve said wood for alternate heating source.

It's times like these when I always question the reasoning behind living in such a climate, when we know full well that there are nicer places to go. With how the cost of living has skyrocketed in Alberta over the past couple of years, I'm sure if enough of us pooled our money, we could buy some uninhabited tropical island and set up our own utopian society with me as Supreme Chancellor. How about it folks?