Survive Alaskan Winters? How About Iowan Winters?

Iowa Winters, Alaska Winters, and eHow

As a veteran of three Alaskan winters, you'd think coming back to an Iowan winter wouldn't be that big a thing, and yet...2008-2009 in Iowa is giving me a run for my money. This has been part of my reflection which has already led to one eHow article on How to Survive an Alaskan Winter, and will probably lead to several more winter based articles on eHow, one of my favorite places to write online.

This does bring up an interesting question, however. Why is an Iowa winter rough after being through so many Alaskan winters? Well this one is fairly easy. For one, it's a slanted question because I did spend 15 months in Austin, TX, between my Alaska winters and my reunion with Iowa's December (and January) cold.

And when it's not windy, I actually do pretty well at 10 degrees and above. This is important since my brother still hasn't found my winter coat and hat, so I'm walking around in a fall jacket and four layers. Fairbanks consistently saw -30 and -40, but there was also NEVER any wind, so no wind chill. I thought about writing about all the strange little things about winter in Alaska, but someone already wrote "The Frozen Toe Guide to Surviving Winter in Alaska." So I'll let him share his wisdom.

The wind here is worse, sucking the air right out of the lungs, and part of it is just the good old fashioned human ability to adapt. What's -20 F when it's usually -40 F? When -10 is unusually cold in Iowa, then 15 will be cold, too. And you can't adapt to wind. Not in the winter. But I digress.

I've always been a winter person, and after almost two years of not seeing snow, it is nice. And more snow. And more snow again. But as my timing is always amazing, this winter has seen some of the lowest temperatures in recorded Iowa history. Imagine my surprise one morning and seeing on the news -25. Imagine how more surprised I was when that wasn't the wind chill, because the next screen had that at -66. Both shattered the previous records.

Welcome home, Shane, LOL.

I'll mention more on eHow later. For those of you who don't know me or haven't figured it out, I'm a write who has a wandering mind. This blog will never be monetized with Adsense, so this is the one where I get to wander where I see fit. Which will be rambling any and everywhere, lol.

But what would a post about an alaska winter be without an actual picture or two? So, let's see if I can figure out the add photo stuff:

So I don't see it in preview mode, so hopefully that shows up. Okay, it did, but not where I wanted it in the post. So the frozen crystals in my old outhouse will have to wait until I get better with placing photos.

Although I'm thinking a spring trip to Tampa Bay might be in order, I admit that I love the winter - though it is harder when everyone I'm staying with has a really cold house, especially waking up in the morning and not being warm, and making it harder to warm up.

Still beats the hell out of summer.

Anyway, I'll write more about ehow and Hubpages later, because I'm big on both places as being great places to write online about a wide variety of subjects. The making money on the side is nice, but I especially appreciate Hubpages as a place where I can write about whatever's on my mind. And when I get some good feedback and even made a touch of coin on the side, well even better.

Well until next time: I'm working on my James Bond as a Reniassance Man argument as well as several other unusual odds and ends. Later.