I’ll be spending some time in Chicago next week. And yes, there will be an abundance of snow. If you think about it, you could easily say I’m like the kid who enjoys playing outside despite their mama’s insistence. But if you live in a part of the country that’s mostly always warm, the prospect of enjoying a really cold winter is somewhat exciting.

Then again, where else can you watch the Super Bowl wearing shorts and sandals (I’m rooting for the Saints)? I guess we don’t know how lucky we are.

My daughters will tell you the prospects of going outside in 12-degree weather aren’t their idea of having fun. They prefer South Texas where the sidewalks aren’t slippery and you don’t have to walk to get to the market.

“You can’t go out, dad! It’s cold out there! Don’t be ridiculous!”

Well maybe ridiculous is too strong a word. How about exhilarating?

Every year, from about November to February, the temperatures here - on the average - drop to the 40s and 50s, with temperatures falling below the 30’s from time to time. It’s been colder than in most years, but at least we don’t have to worry about layering our clothes, wearing snow boots, or donning gloves.

We also don’t have to worry about scraping snow off our driveway or standing in front of the heater to warm up.

Our problems are a bit different. We can’t decide what to wear in an environment where the air conditioner is on one day and heaters are burning the next. And you can’t depend on our local weather channels because the weather is almost always unpredictable.

And now we have the prospect of global warming, which promises to raise our temperatures even higher.

In case you’re wondering how warm it is and how I’m dealing with it?

It’s 65-degrees outside and I’ve got the heater on.

For now, the rain has stopped. I figure it’s better to pretend it’s cold than to have to stop my teeth from chattering.

In fact, I never knew how fortunate I was until my first visit to the Midwest, where my daughter was attending college. I was so naïve I showed up in a t-shirt and a rain jacket. It was 13-degrees outside. Thankfully, I was rushed to the girl’s dorms where my daughter’s friends gathered heavy sweaters and equipped me with the proper attire. I spent the next couple of hours warming up on a warm Coca Cola left out of the fridge.

Thankfully, I don’t have to put up with the cold weather. My problem is dealing with the changing weather.

Forty degrees may not be cold by my daughter’s standards, but it’s a substantial difference for us when the temperature the day before was in the mid-70s.

I predicted a colder winter last year, based mainly on predictions made by the Farmer’s Almanac. So far, the prediction has been fairly accurate.

As for me, I’ll be enjoying a nice cup of warm coffee while the temperatures here drop below what is expected in South Texas.