The Deep Freeze

About 100 yards into my quarter-mile trek to the road to retrieve the morning paper, I regret not wearing a scarf. The cold wind races across the fields and the driveway and numbs my nose. Pulling my hair over my nose, I hope it provides some insulation. It doesn't. I use a gloved hand to shield my face and feel my fingers go from warm to cold to numb. It is only when I return from my walk that I bother to check the temperature, which is a perfect zero. Wind speeds though are in the teens. The January freeze has officially arrived.