'Twas a biting wind blowin' from the west

    It was cold, and the west wind was blowing through the patio doors of our house on Mill Pond.
    Before winter came, I had covered the outside of the doors with Visqueen, a think plastic, hoping to cut down the breeze.
     But it was January.  And cold....at least 60 below, or so it felt.  We could feel the wind and cold through the door.
     I examined the door and found the Visqueen  had come off the bottom left corner.
     It was cold.  It was windy.  The wind was howling.  It was cold.
     Too cold for anyone else in the house to go out an repair the Visqueen.  So I donned boots, gloves, hat, scarf, long underwear, hot pants......well, not hot pants.  I bundled up like a bluish Pillsbury Doughboy.  I grabbed the scissors,  duct tape, and a hammer to nail the molding back on that was supposed to hold the Visqueen.
     I got out there and found the molding was nowhere to be found.  The wind was now roaring.....I believe it was called Maria.......and the temperature had dropped.  Looking inside, I saw all the family safe and warm while my teeth were chattering and parts of my body I never thought could get cold were partially frozen.
     I tried holding the plastic and cutting the tape.  Now if I had four hands, that would have been possible.  But with two, and in gloves, it was not.
     So I improvised.

Sometimes I don't think things through  when I improvise

    I took my gloves off, cut the duct tape and then put one end in my mouth so I could put the plastic in place  with both hands, hold it in down with one hand, and take the duct tape and put it on the plastic.
     All went well until I tried to take the tape.  The damn stuff was frozen to my lips.
      It was freaking cold and there was a strong wind.  The wind chill must have been 90 below.
   
Sometimes I don't think things through when I improvise

     That bears repeating.
     My fingers were numb, the wind was howling, I was freezing and the tape would not come off my bottom lip.   I tried again, gently tugging as my ears began to burn.  I tried a third time and the tape was stuck fast to my bottom lip.

Sometimes I don't think things through when I improvise

     So I gave it a good yank.  It came off, and for a few seconds, I felt like I had a really dry bottom lip.
     I put the tape on the plastic and door frame,  added some extra tape and made sure it was good and stuck.  By now I had been out there about 20 minutes (and nobody had checked on me) including the last 10 with the burned lip.
     People don't seem to bleed very much when they are out in subzero temperatures.
     But when they hit the heat, Lordy does the hemoglobin flow.
     You might have thought I was in a fight with a slasher.
     And it hurt.  Try ripping skin off you lip sometime, it is not very pleasant.
     Strangely, cold compresses and plenty of Vaseline helped a lot.
     And the plastic stayed....so in the end, I did accomplish my goal.
     I just lost a little lip skin doing it.