climatizing: was Re: [at-l] My first winter overnighter

["Thomas McGinnis" <tmcginnis@ucclan.state.in.us>]

>>> Pat Villeneuve <patv@falcon.cc.ukans.edu> 02/21/00 10:40PM >>>
Trailmixup@aol.com wrote:
>(Those who met me at the> Ruck probably know that I will get cold if you merely turn off the> incandescent bulb in the ceiling fixture.  I'm the penultimate winter weenie> wimp -- sorry GimmeChocolate, I *definitely* have you beat out when it comes> to "climate princess!")

Ha! Now THAT sounds like a challenge. Let the competition begin. May I 
call witnesses?

Give Me Chocolate, of the 97* body temperature...

###### And Sloetoe remembers a nasty Saturday morning in January, 1981, in Connecticut, blizzard blowing in, drifts building over ice, recovering from the exhuberance of the previous knight's "punch" — maybe it was noonish — anyway, I awoke and remembered that I'd volunteered to donate blood. (Being O-pos, I'm a popular guy in the vampire circuit). Rolled out of bed, stepped into weather-appropriate clothing (believe it), and struggled into the 45 minute forced march down to City Hall to bleed for society. It was a *nasty* hike down there — froze my nose even under a scarf, hat, and hood — and when I arrived at the mostly deserted Pantheon of New England democracy, they all looked up at me like they were trying to hold a big party and I was the only one to attend — and I was late, at that.

They sat my hungover, hung down, low down, low temperature, blue-to-the-core, what-weather? ass down and attempted to take my hypothermic temperature with their puny widdle digimeters. Pah! No reading. They looked at me, saw me blink, knew I was alive, .....After 15 minutes and two cups of coffee, I registered a mighty 97.6* — probably the lowest their tempa-whosies could go. Nurse Able wordlessly shows the reading to Nurse Bravo, who looks at it, looks down at me (I muster a wink from somewhere), looks around at the empty gurneys, and announces "Take 'im!" I think I was cold for 3 days solid, during that blow.

Oh, but this is about "climatizing."OK, so:
Each spring, I endeavor to aclimatize to the coming summer. When that first hot blast hits, I spend as much time in it as I'm able, making the effort to stay properly hydrated and "salted" and such, and so far, the result is that after about two weeks of pain and agony, I will end up comfortable in the heat for the rest of the summer. When fall hits, of course, I freeze my cookies off. So in Indiana winter, I bundle, and around March, I become comfortable in the cold once again. Just in time for spring. And I'll note too that when I lived in colder climbs (let's simplify and say "Above Interstate 80"), I was aclimatized by Christmas, and even faster if I spent more time out of doors.

But yes, I was one of those little persons who spent their time outdoors in the winter wonderland until it was so cold it hurt. Blue fingers, red hands, pain and anguish. And, to the reassurance of some on this list, my kids are the same way.

Have just a heart warming day, OK?
Sloetoe



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