Blizzard Warnings

I have never been gladder about remembering to put my long johns on. This morning when I left for work the wind hit me with a plea for a playmate. I walked along the empty street and the snow swirled around my legs and blew off violently in front of me, like ghosts skimming just above the ground. It was eerie yet invigorating. As per usual I was tucked away in my bakery and didn’t even have a chance to notice the weather until I emerged to visit my friend Kayla who works on the front end. I think today classified as my first official ‘white out.’

Of course, I wanted to go outside and be a part of the excitement that Mother Nature was throwing our way. I think the grin on my face gave away my childish enthusiasm and my intentions.

We closed the store today at two in the afternoon. A customer asked me why I was selling dozen boxes of donuts at a discounted rate. When I told her we were closing up shop she was shocked. She said, “You know it’s bad when North Mart is shutting its doors.”

The small amount of customers in the store were advised to call taxis as they would be coming off the roads shortly. Many of our staff arranged for rides with those who have company vehicles. Me... I couldn’t wait to walk. I have wanted to experience the way eyelashes ice over. Today is the picture of how I envisioned the arctic. Looking out the front door of North Mart, one couldn’t see the other side of the street.

I’ve experienced high winds, and lots of blowing snow but this was my first blizzard. The temperature with wind chill was -39 degrees Celsius and the winds were blowing at 72 km/hr.

The winds practically pushed me all the way home. Still I hadn’t had my fill by the time I got back. I traded in my Tim’s hat for a Pang hat and my mittens for gloves and headed out like a child to play in the snow. It only took seconds for my face to freeze over and in order to capture a picture of myself I had to take my glove off. It took twenty minutes to get the feeling back in my hand. I couldn’t feel anything. As soon as I remembered how much I love having fingers, I had visions flash through my mind of CPR and first aid training. I remembered the signs and progression of frost bite and convinced myself to head for shelter.

Before going inside I looked down at my bakers pants and shoes and laughed, thinking of the commercial where two polar bears are talking to each other but you can’t see anything other than their eyes and noses because they blend in with their white out surroundings. I blend in here in my baker’s whites just as well as any polar bear.