Fuzzy Socks on in my Frozen Bubble

I am NOT "Barefoot" in my bubble right now.  :)  Too darn cold.   It should not be this cold in Florida, but it is.  It was 19F when we woke up this morning, with a wind chill in the single digits.   Too cold for my sweet iced tea.  Too cold to rock on the porch.  No warm breezes.   No bloomy yard.  Not even any bugs.  Boy, that's weird.   I'm sure the creepy crawlies all found spots to hide in to get out of this cold too.  (And as long as that spot to hide isn't in my house, I'm fine with that.)

I get tired of some folks saying we are wimps, need to suck it up, etc, for being cold.   I'll remember that when they're crying about the heat this summer.   (Sorry, but until you've been in 117 F heat with 100% humidity, and the powers' out from a hurricane.. I don't want to hear it.)  LOL     I KNOW it gets hot in other places.  But please, this is Florida.  We don't even get the 'dry' heat.  We get the 'steamed broccoli' heat.  Except you're the broccoli, and you are thoroughly steamed before you can even reach your car from the front door.  Which is why most Southern women skip the makeup in the summer.  Why bother when it's just going to melt off anyway?

I understand the temperatures are lower, with temps well below zero in Northern places.   I'm certainly not comparing our cold to theirs.   That would be dumb.   I have no doubt their blizzard is a heck of a LOT colder than our lousy little cold snap.   I'm not even comparing.  But dang it, throw me a bone!  This is cold to US!  People need to bear in mind a couple of things.  We have high humidity.  So our cold is wetter, making it 'feel' colder than it really is.   High humidity makes cold feel colder and heat feel hotter.  This is one of the joys of living in a subtropical climate.   That, and I'm tellin' ya, we've got thin blood.  Hahaa!

People here, for the most part, do not have coats or cold weather gear/clothes.   We have little need for them.  Many of us own maybe a sweater or two, and that's it.   Personally, I own a single pair of sweat pants I can wear under my skirt when it's too cold... and I have a warm cape, and a wind breaker, (unlined).  That's it.  My girls each own a jacket.  Hubby has a jacket.

When it snowed here in '89, people laughed when they shut down the city.  Really?  Why?   We don't have anything to clear roads with.  We don't have chains on our tires.   C'mon, if we don't even own coats, why would we own anything to cope with snow and ice?   Not to mention, most of us have never seen it in our lives unless we're from another area (I'm a Florida Native, and have only seen it once.  My kids have never seen snow)    We have no clue how to drive in it.   How could we?  We don't get that here.   It's what you're used to.   
Folks up North are unimpressed by blizzards, yawn at snowfall and freakishly low temperatures that I am telling you would kill me.  :)   On the other hand, we can deal with weather hot enough to cook hoecakes and eggs on the sidewalk, and are completely unimpressed with hurricanes.   We yawn through tropical storms, and laugh ourselves silly at the panicked out-of-towners as they rush to buy staples and nail plywood up for a lousy tropical storm..  bwaahahahaaa!!   I maintain.  It's what you're used to.

Our houses are not built the same as homes in the more Northern regions.   This is not my silly opinion.. it's a fact.  Our homes are not built to endure freezing temps and snow.  It's generally hot here, and our homes are built for our 'normal' hot weather.   Our insulation (in most cases) is ridiculous when compared to homes built up North.  We have like, one-tenth of the insulation.

Heated floors do not exist here.  Our floors are generally tile, hard wood, carpet on top of concrete, etc.   It blows my mind to know that some people have heated floors.   I honestly have never seen that in my life.  

Windows.  We don't have storm windows.   Or double panes.  Or anything cool like that.  In our home we have six giant picture windows around our house.  With a single sheet of VERY thin glass.   Actually, my hubby and I detest our thin windows... we want to get them replaced and have storm windows put in.  I cannot imagine the heating and cooling we are losing through these ridiculously thin windows. 

Looking out my window, I can see that my azaleas are frozen, dead on the bushes.  I am concerned about my fig tree, which is wrapped up in the front yard.  I hope it survived.  Some of my smaller plants were moved inside.  

Fuzzy colorful socks covering our feet, then sliding them into bedroom shoes to keep warm feet.  Sipping hot tea, and wearing a couple of layers to try and keep warm.  

The hilarious part is that within a couple of months time, I'll be whining about how hot it is.  LOL!!   

I look out the window, and the world looks like it's sleeping.  No green... Just a beautiful bright sun shining down on leafless trees, shriveled shrubbery.  Like the the entire world is in hibernation, but the sun is so pretty and bright... a reminder that within weeks we'll be blooming again, and everything will come back to life, rich, green and lush as Florida should be.