Why I Hate Winter

Anybody who has followed this blog for a while knows how much I hate winter.

It isn't just the cold, or the snow, or the dark days with only a few hours of sunshine.

No, it's also all the stuff that is necessary, or that happens, because of the snow and the cold.

• I hate having to bundle up in my heaviest winter coat just to take my dogs for a walk. 
• I hate dealing with gloves, which have to be removed on one hand whenever I stop to pick up my dogs’ poop. 
• I hate the boots and the Yak Trax, which keep me from falling on ice and packed snow. 
• It's the steamy eyeglasses whenever I walk through the door. 
• It's the winter hat that gives me static-filled 'hat hair.'
• It's the perpetually dry, cracked skin no matter how much lotion I apply. 
• It's the static electricity that zaps me whenever I touch anything, from kitchen faucet to one of my dogs. 
• I hate the sound of my furnace running incessantly. There's something about the sound -- the frequency, perhaps? -- that drives me crazy.
• I hate falling down on the ice and snow, which I do at least once each winter. For someone with osteoporosis, the thought of falling and breaking a bone is not fun.
• I hate having to waste water (I live in the desert where water is scarce) by leaving faucets dripping overnight to keep pipes from freezing.

Is there anything good about cold, snowy winters for someone like me who doesn't ski, snowboard, snowshoe or ice skate? Freshly fallen snow on the mountains does look nice, but I can live without it. For those of us who live in the desert, snow brings much-needed moisture. But it's needed mostly in the mountains, not in the valleys. The ski resorts, or course, love lots of snow. For me, not so much. 

So no, there really isn't anything good about cold and snow. The only comforting thing about this winter, which has brought more snow than I have seen during my previous eight winters here, and much colder temperatures, is knowing that each day brings up closer to spring!