Let's not devolve to a political debate on global warming please. It'll just end up bad, and eventually locked.

I know my own dislike of winter has childhood roots, so here's a story to elaborate;

I was about 10, and our Missouri farm had just experienced an ice storm. Come morning, Dad and I went to chore the cattle. First, the tractor wouldn't start until we'd removed the air cleaner and dosed the carb with ether. The trip to the silo was nasty, almost putting us in the fence a couple times. We finally got the cows fed and headed back to the house. I opened the gates for Dad to pass, by then he was plenty pi**ed. He had on those thin rubber slip-on boots, and was having to use the tractor brakes to steer. At the last gate, he got his foot caught between the left and right brake, putting the tractor in a tight spin with the right brake locked. What did Dad do in his pain and anger? He pulled the throttle down wide open... It would have been funny, but I could feel his frozen foot with an 1/8" of rubber caught in the brake.

The next winter, we had the worst snow I've experienced. 3 feet before the drifts. It caught Mom by surprise at work, and at noon she called, saying she was headed home. After an hour late, Dad and I took off on two tractors to try to find her. We got only a mile or so before the blizzard blinded us, and I follwed Dad right into the ditch. We had to follow the fence hand over hand to get back home, and I was sure Dad was gonna die before we got there. We made it OK, and later learned that Mom had hit the ditch also, but had found shelter with a neighbor. 3 days before the plows came through, and 5 before Mom could get home.

Yeah, I made snowmen and tunnels as a kid, but the hardship and pain are memories far more vivid.