WINTER.
 Have you warned your children about the dangers of WINTER? Side effects of Winter may include, but are not limited to, feelings of "HOLY %#$@ IT'S COLD," Cabin Fever, and a profound resentment towards the entirety of Florida.

 Hi folks!
 Been a while since my last post, it's taken a few weeks for my fingers to thaw. Plus, new job, making friends, buying a house - etc. But! No excuse!

 Now, I've been told for years, by a number of sources that I consider quite reliable, that it's "better" to live in a place that "has seasons." As a life-long Northern Californian with only brief forays into places where the temperature actually changes, I've never really known what that meant.

 Then, well, I move to Arkansas in winter. Here's what it was like two weeks ago:


 I can deal with that! Tights, but it IS February after all, so that's a fine trade. And here's what it's looked like since that day:



 Zelda, the sweetest dog in the world, absolutely *hates* this weather, you can see it written all over her face:




 ...Well, ok, in that one she's just tired. But suffice it to say, she's enjoying herself a whole lot more than anyone else in town!
 The dogs pictured above belong to our downstairs neighbors - lovely people. Our dogs and their children love each other to pieces. It'll be a shame to move.


 Here's a view across the street, plainly showing where a car got *so cold* that it just winked out of existence. Or showing the spot where the one brave soul who actually went to work was parked, if you like that story better.


 Shown clearly in the above photo: the trees here. Grand, majestic, quite plainly dead. Dead, I say! Nothing goes dormant for winter and comes back! It's not possible!


 That's a sheet of ice over a normal window. Ice, flying sideways down from the sky. And then sticking to the window. And staying there. Just staying there, not melting, not going away, just frozen. FOR. DAYS. What *IS* this place?!


 Now, I'm well aware that this is nothing, barely a flurry, in other places of the world. Indeed, in places where some of my very favorite people live!
 However, that's probably one of the absolute biggest reasons why I didn't move to "Those Places!" This is bad enough!


 Although the wife is awfully cute all dolled up, it makes for a great picture :)
 That said, this was a VERY short walk. It's just too cold to make up for the pretty pictures.


 ...Barely.
 Ok fine, it might be worth it for the occasional photo op, but I still don't like it! And neither does my car!



 Driving in this kind of weather is worlds different from anything I've been through before. And it's particularly weird to have that feeling in a car I know so well and have driven in so many different conditions.


 I'll close with this picture - that's a view from the 12th floor of the UAMS Cancer Research Labs, pretty amazing view! And that's also the southern end of the neighborhood we'll soon be living in!
 ...If we ever make it out of the snow, that is. It's still falling.

 Let me simply say to everyone out there, and put the question finally to rest - No. No, living in a place where ice falls from the sky is not better than living where it doesn't! But, you should still try it sometime ;)

 Happy Monday, y'all!