I wouldn't say it's cold, but ...

Let's get my annual "I hate winter" rant out of the way early this year.

Well, hate might be too strong a term for it, although dislike seems awfully weak. Maybe I should just say winter is not my fondest season. Like root canals and hernia surgeries aren't my fondest medical procedures.

I will admit we've been fortunate to have had just the frigid temperatures and none of that ice, snow and other nasty winter precipitation those folks north of us have gotten. After seeing the pictures and videos of the Great White Midwest, and Northeast, I'm really glad we dodged that.

But, never fear, we'll get our share of that mess before it's over. Hopefully it'll warm up to freezing before it gets here.

It's interesting how folks react to the cold, especially when temperatures look like the ages for a kindergarten class. Obviously, staying inside is the best, preferably with a warm blanket, a hot beverage and a good book, or Facebook access these days. With Facebook, everyone can complain about the cold like I do. And they do.

My favorite FB post going around now is "I'm not going outside until the temperature is more than my age." In my case, that'll be sometime this spring.

I really enjoy all the ways people have of describing how cold it is. For example:

• I wouldn't say it's cold, but I just saw a polar bear rubbing two Eskimos together

• It's so cold, I saw witches buying thermal bras

• It's so cold, I saw a well digger sitting in a bucket of warm water

• I wouldn't say it's cold, but a penguin climbed into my freezer to get warm

• It's so cold, I saw a politician with his hands in his own pockets (sure, it's old, but still a goodie)

• It's so cold, I went ice fishing on Lake Norfork ... and caught a limit of cubes

• I wouldn't say it's cold, but everything at Town & Country is in a frozen food section

• It's so cold, we had to turn the air conditioner on warm up the newsroom

• It's so cold, the fire froze in my fire pit

• I wouldn't say it's cold, but Dick Cheney now can be considered warmhearted

• It's so cold, a terrorist tried to blow up a bus and his lips froze to the exhaust pipe

• It's so cold, the house has cold and colder running water

• It's so cold, my computer screen froze ... but that's nothing new.

Of course, as I mentioned, it could be worse (and probably will be) so we should just make the best of what we have. Think about it: This is the perfect time for indoor sports (and take that however you want), binge watching old TV shows, knitting, cooking, wine tasting, reading, coloring, and anything else that comes to mind. We can look out at the clear, sunny day and remind ourselves it's warmer in Anchorage.

But it won't be long until we reach my favorite part of winter — when it's over.