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A Cold Day
When I woke up yesterday (Jan. 23, 2026) morning at 5:30ish, it was as forecasted: -12 degrees with a windchill of -30. After doing my usual morning routine of using the bathroom, reading the Bible, doing some stretching and exercises, I got dressed to take my usual walk. Typically, I go south 1.5 blocks, west 5 blocks, north 4 blocks, west 5 blocks, and then head south and come home. This is usually 1.6 miles, and I walk it in 22-24 minutes. I knew it was going to be colder today, so I cut off how far south I went, making it closer to 1.5 miles. Here is how I looked when ready to leave.
You can't see it, but I first put on a thin face mask, covered by my thickest stocking cap, a scarf wrapped around my face twice, and a goose down jacket (that a neighbor from Indonesia gave me in the spring of 1989 as he were about to head home after graduating from Notre Dame). Underneath the jacket, I had a down vest and below it a long-sleeve shirt with a T-shirt below it. On my legs, I had first put on some warm running tights, then a thick pair of sweat pants, and then I covered this with some wind pants that Marcia used to wear. Finally, on my hands I wore goose down mittens that my brother-in-law, David, gave me in the late 1970s or early 80s. I only wear them when the windchill is below zero since they are quite warm. As I took my 1.5-mile walk, I was comfortable everywhere except on my feet. I had worn tennis shoes that had been fine in the past, but the strong winds made my feet cold before I had gone a half a block south.
Around 9:45, when it was -11 with a windchill of -27, I walked a mile to the college's Kuyper fieldhouse to exercise. There, I ran three miles, did some weights, and then walked another mile back home. I dressed the same, but I had put on a pair of shoes that could resist the wind better. I was fine in both directions. At 4:00 (when it had warmed up to -5 and only a -20 wind chill), I walked 6 blocks to volunteer at the Hospice and then another 6 blocks to a pharmacy to pick up a prescription for a patient, and then back 6 blocks to the hospice. After some inside work, I walked about a mile to the hospital to pick up some meals for the patients and then back. After finishing, I walked another 6 blocks home. If I did my addition correctly, I walked 7.5 miles yesterday, and by simply dressing appropriately, I was fine except for my feet being a bit cool on the first walk. I remembered from Boy Scouts, "Be Prepared."
This morning, I took the same walk as yesterday morning, and I also had a hospice shift at 10:00. In the morning, it was about -7, but a bit warmer at 10:00 when walking to the hospice. I tried calling to see if meals were needed or if the nurses expected many visitors (meaning I would need to bake cookies - the easy way), but there was no answer. When I arrived, there were no tasks needed (after the doing the standard basics), but I was needed to pick up meals again, but not available until 11:30. So I walked back home, worked a bit, back to the hospice to pick up the bags (that I had forgotten, but hardly out of the way), walked to the hospital, back to the hospice and then back home again.
A number of people that I encountered yesterday and today were shocked that I had walked. But, as with many things, if you prepare for them mentally and physically, tasks can be more easily done. As I write this in the afternoon, the temperature is actually above 0 (1, but that is above), and the windchill is only -9. I don't plan on going out, but still cool enough for those special mittens!
Published 2026-01-24.
If you find any errors in the text, please let me know. Thanks. Contact me with errors or comments using hibbardac@gmail.com. [Back to the top] [About the author, Al]