Dimon Kendrick-Holmes: Digging this cold weather?

I've noticed something interesting this week.

An awful lot of us who grew up in the South are digging this cold weather.

Really. I've noticed it while walking the dog in my neighborhood or running errands downtown.

I'll encounter a neighbor or acquaintance and one of us will sigh and say something like, "Whew, can you believe this cold weather?" assuming that the other person hates it. And the other person will say, "I'm actually kind of enjoying it!" And the person who posed the question will say, "Me too!"

This is assuming, of course, that neither of us has had any trouble with automobile engines or water pipes, or electric service or cable/internet access.

It's also assuming that we don't have any forecast of ice or snow. When that happens, we'll go to the grocery store and buy up all the milk.

I've also noticed that many people who live here but grew up in the North are less enthusiastic about these freezing temperatures. They've got more heavy sweaters than the rest of us, and they wear them when the temperature drops below 70 degrees. Hey, they moved down here for a reason.

Then there are my children, each of them born and raised in the South. Earlier this week, I came downstairs for breakfast wearing long johns, wool pants, a sweater and a polar fleece. My 14-year-old son, who was sitting at the table munching cereal, was wearing a hoodie and shorts. Then he grabbed his book bag and started to leave for school.

That's when I asked him if he was nuts. He asked me why I asked him that. And then I asked him if the thought had entered his mind that perhaps he should cover up his legs when the temperature dropped below freezing.

He's kind of a smart aleck -- he gets it from his mother -- and so I expected him to tell me that he was training to be an arctic swimmer.

When the kids were little, I read them a magazine article about a girl who grew up in Michigan and prepared herself to be an arctic swimmer by sleeping with the windows open and no covers.

It was a thrilling story. To be an arctic swimmer, you apparently need an incredibly low body temperature as well as a lead boat with a bow sturdy enough to plow through ice and a rifleman who can pick off the occasional deadly walrus. The kids still talk about it, and perhaps it influenced their decision to wear shorts in freezing weather.

In fact, they all have sport hammocks and they enjoy sleeping outdoors in all sorts of weather. They even camped out during last year's ice storm.

But on this morning, my son didn't mention the arctic swimmer girl. He just shrugged and said, "OK, I'll wear long pants if it means that much to you."

Our dog isn't much better. He's an outside dog who usually sleeps in the garage. When the temperatures plummeted, we brought him inside. He enjoyed it until he realized we weren't going to let him spend the night on the big white chair.

It was the laundry room for him. The next morning, after his walk, he refused to go back inside the house. He fits right in.

Hey, don't be like my kids or my dog. Bundle up and stay warm.

Dimon Kendrick-Holmes, executive editor, dkholmes@ledger-enquirer.com

This story was originally published January 9, 2015 at 9:33 PM with the headline "Dimon Kendrick-Holmes: Digging this cold weather?."