(Not So) Balmy Chicago

"Don't Worry, They're From Minnesota"

If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?

--Shakespeare, "Merchant of Venice"

What recalls the quote above is Chicagoans' assumptions -- OK, my relatives' -- about how Minnesotan fare in very cold weather. While it was about ten degrees warmer there -- a not-so-balmy 15 degrees or so -- the wind chill was easily below zero.

Contrary to everyone's belief that we have antifreeze in our veins . . . we were freezing, just like everyone else!

Given that, plus the exigencies of traveling with small kids, we did what any rational Minnesotans would have done under the circumstances: skipped the L (Chicago's subway) and popped for the (very) expensive underground parking. Heated, of course.

P.S.: it could just be an urban legend, but I recall hearing a story about someone in the Twin Cities who was upset that their neighbor didn't provide an outside shelter for their dog, a Siberian husky. The neighbor ultimately involved the authorities, who ordered the dog owner to provide said shelter. The husky slept on top of it.