It’s day two of freezepocalypse 2011, and children all across the Front Range in Colorado are rejoicing in the second of two ‘snow days’ off from school due to blistering cold temperatures and our apparent inability to deal with what’s normal weather if you’re in Iowa or Minnesota or whatever. I know when I was a kid we went to school when it was this cold. Is there fear from the schools that they’ll be sued by the parents if a child suffers frostbite? Or just that parents here in Colorado aren’t used to these temperatures, aren’t prepared for it, and therefore kids will inevitably suffer if they don’t act? Are the schools right?

Not that my first grade son is complaining…no, he’s relishing every minute of it. The irony of calling them snow days is there’s very little actual snow, only about 1-2 inches here. The temps have been around -15 in the morning with the wind chill another 10 to 15 degrees colder. Last night here it fell to -23 at the lowest, which is a record low for us. I’m hoping our micro-vineyard with our hybrid vines emerges unscathed through this winter. They are rated to -20, so this will be a winter to test their cold-hardiness.

Not sure if you’re discovered Bluntcard.com yet, but here’s a nice one that fully summarizes my thoughts on the Freezepocalypse.

Snowpocalypse

Now, on to other things. I must confess I’m secretly enthralled with Mark Morford’s weekly columns. It’s partly his succinct and hard-hitting writing style, and partly the topical and amusing content. For instance, college kids are more invested in compliments than sex, and you can apparently improve your metabolism by turning down your thermostat. He also speaks to the GOP plans to redefine rape this week. Because, you know, if you aren’t beaten into a bloody pulp during the rape, then Congress doesn’t consider it an actual rape anymore, right? Now, I suspect this has more to do with their desire to pinch pennies anywhere they can and this is just yet another place to cut costs, and women’s rights simply aren’t top billing to the GOP.

Finally, I’m going to talk about my publisher’s yearly charity anthology because it’s the right thing to do. Dreams & Desires, vol. 4 is now available in eBook for $5.99 and in print for $14.95.

By purchasing this collection, you can help turn someone’s nightmare into the pursuit of dreams. Every year, four million women are assaulted by their partners. At Freya’s Bower, we want to do our part to bring this statistic down to zero. To this end, all net proceeds from every Dreams and Desire anthology volume 4 purchased will go to A Window Between Worlds, a non-profit organization that provides art supplies and training for art as a healing tool free of charge to battered women’s shelters across the United States. Through education and support, we can make a difference.

If you read romance, consider picking this up as it benefits a worthy cause and will also expose you to a number of new authors.

Until next time…