Hearing rumors of some storm damaged Black Ash in the National Forest north of Virginia MN. PM if you want details. Little far for me to drive.
That brought up memories. I used to live there. My wife and two infant daughters were there when I was a medic assigned to give medical support at a redar site near Finland MN. I looked it up on the net. Could see the building we lived in still there, but the radar domes are gone. It was the second highest point in Mn. We had bears bothering us much of the time. During the winter the snow was so deep it went to the tops of our windows. One guy drove his snowmobile up on his home's roof and broke through. Another guy didn't park his car far enough in the driveway. The monster snow throwers used to clear the roads hit his VW and that was the end of that. It got -40 and -50 below 0. There was just under two months without freezing temps. I could go on and on, but for me, even being from Maine, I had enough at the end of my tour.
Yup it is a whole different world. Not as much snow as I am used to when I lived in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. But the bitter cold is something else. Mid Feb on a nice day when I get to the parking lot at work I occasionally would leave my coat in the car because it felt fairly mild, usually it was only between -5 and -10F.
