Feelin' Minnesota

Cold Minn. Town Without Weather Observer - EarthLink - Strange News:
"TOWER, Minn. - You betcha it gets cold up here, but how will we know how cold this year?
This small northeastern Minnesota town that recorded the state's record low in 1996 - a pretty nippy 60 degrees below zero - is without an official weather observer.
The woman who previously held the post left in mid-October; she'd reported Tower's daily temperature and precipitation since 1972.
In the meantime, highs and lows are being recorded at a building in town that stands at a higher elevation than the official weather station. Colder air typically drains into the valley.
Tower, about 35 miles south of the Canadian border, and nearby Embarrass usually vie for Minnesota's daily low, forecasters say. Both towns are generally apart by a degree or two.
Mike Stewart, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service in Duluth, said the agency is searching for a replacement to fill the spot in the valley.
'It's not going to go by the wayside. It's very important to keep that going there,' Stewart said Monday.
Embarrass still has an official observer, Stewart said. The low there was 8 below zero Monday."

This is why I love living up here. You have to love a state where small towns compete over the daily low temperature, and fret that they might not get credit for being the coldest place this side of a penguin's butt.

Actually, there are a lot of reasons to find Minnesota both congenial and amusing.

People go ice-fishing for fun up here. It's true. Did you know there's an ice shack parade? I think it's in Winona. Once a year, as the ice fishing season opens, people parade their custom ice shacks through the streets. Some of them are quite clever--I saw one once that looked like the Addams Family mansion in miniature. All this to block the wind while you go ice-fishing.

Now, I consider myself a Minnesotan, but there must be a little Texas left in me because I will never squat on an overturned bucket while trying to fish through a hole in the ice in an attempt to have a good time. Perhaps in an attempt to get food, should I ever end up that destitute, but definitely not for entertainment.

Minnesota is quite possibly the only place in the contiguous forty-eight where you can wear a hat with ear flaps in public and not be the object of great hilarity. Heck, there are days when I laugh at people who aren't wearing flap hats. Most of those days are in January.

Most native Minnesotans don't think of construction or rental agreements when they hear the term "boarding". (It's a hockey thing.)

And last but certainly not least, Canadian coins work in our vending machines.

What's not to love...eh?