Hi Vee and all, My husband gets a bit cranky about weather -- always saying this is "the coldest" (or "snowiest") winter he can remember and it's somehow *my* fault (I'm native to Western New York, born in Bflo and live in Avon, south of Rochester. So while I feel for my in-laws in CT with their absolutely horrible Nor'easters and frigid temps, at least I can say, pointing at the national weather map, "Oh, yeah?" Anyone else know some Weather Channel addicts? I can be peacefully watching TV when suddenly, there's the Weather Channel and I know He Who Controls the Remote is back. Then the weekly forecast -- as if moaning about the temperature will make it warmer! And when it changes, forget it -- it's as if a promise was broken! Only 2 degrees instead of 8!! I wanted to mention that while I hate this cold, I'll take it versus the huge blizzards of my past. When I was just a kid of 20 something I taught out in South Buffalo and often took the bus to work from Elmwood Ave. in bad weather. The trip took an hour most snowy days -- I read a lot of Russian novels then as it seemed appropriate. That year (1979) my car was buried under snow for a week -- my 6th graders helped me find it among all the other snow-covered mounds on the side street where it was parked. The Blizzard of '77 gave me bragging rights for years in my family -- it somehow proved you were tough to have gone through it. Does anyone else remember Mayor Jimmy Griffin's famous advice to "buy a six-pack and stay home"? After last year's extreme Buffalo winter, I realized I no longer had the stamina for such adventures and even felt a little guilty for not being there for the really big snow. And no one cancels college classes anymore here in Rochester -- my poor students at Rochester Institute of Technology are the tough ones for making it to class no matter what. Their little brothers and sisters all had the day off. Who says kids today have no work ethic? Time for some hot tea. Be warm, wherever you are! Mary Hess