JEANNE BRAGG, Post Columnist
Posted: Sunday, March 7, 2010 6:36 am

I am so tired of being cold.

I freeze when Pat and I walk, I freeze when I get the mail and I freeze when I run errands.

I even freeze when I’m in the house.

We keep the temperature at our house at about 65 degrees so I always wear a sweatshirt.

The laundry room stays at about 58 degrees because the cold comes in through the dryer vent, and if I leave the door to the laundry room open, the house is like a wind tunnel, with a breeze that could almost put out a match.

The only places I really feel warm are in my car (82 degrees) and in my study with a hot blazing fire in the fireplace.

And if being cold weren’t enough, the ever-present side effects of this weather — a chronic sinus headache and aching arthritic bones — make me grumpy because I’m in a constant state of discomfort.

I am reluctant to resort to pain medication to relieve these daily maladies (the warning labels on the side of the bottle about the side effects keep you from that — but that’s another column), and the Neti pot has provided some relief.

If you are not familiar with the Neti pot and have sinus congestion, you may want to do some research. The Neti pot is an inexpensive device that uses a salt and water solution to flush out the nasal cavity.

My particular pot is blue and plastic and looks like a small teapot and cost about $10. It is available in any pharmacy.

I was initially uneasy about pouring salt water through my nostrils (I used to hold my nose under water in the swimming pool) but the method was highly recommended by several friends.

The first time I did it I felt such immediate relief that queasiness quickly became a non-issue.

I now do it once or twice a week, but I still have to pop those two blue pills (ibuprofen) to knock off some of the pain.

The pills also help the aching sciatic nerve that runs down the left side of my body and throbs more frequently when I’m cold.

And these arthritic feet and hands are slow to warm up, too, as many of you can understand.

I’m tired of being cold.

It’s amazing to me that despite these record breaking low temperatures, jonquils are bursting out of the ground. I picked a yellow crocus last week and counted eight hyacinths erupting.

I always assumed the ground warming forced these beauties through the earth, but have now determined they must follow the Gregorian calendar like we do.

Perhaps I should bring some inside to see if they’ll “force” before they freeze solid.

On that one weekend in February when we had the unusually warm weather I cleaned the flowers pots on my side porch, getting rid of dead chrysanthemums and geranium skeletons. And even though it was warm that day, the dirt in the pots was frozen solid.

Maybe the jonquils know something we don’t … that spring is on its way.

Until then, I’ll try to make the most of this relatively “dormant” time.

I’ll “unplug and read,” force some wheat grass in containers (wheatgrass germinates in about three days) and admire the fabulous pink hydrangea I splurged on at Martin’s last week to remind me of things to come.

In 1822 Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote:

“Drive my dead thoughts over the universe

Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!....

O Wind,

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

Timeless then, even as now.”

‘Til next week.