10 Ways To Make It Through a Cold, Snowy, Covid Holiday Weekend

We seem to have a bit of frustration brewing for this 2022 Martin Luther King 3-day weekend. I thought I could try to brighten things up a bit with 10 Things You Can Do to Make it Through to the Other Side, Unscathed.

Let's be honest, everybody and their brother seems to have COVID right now. Most people are either a-symptomatic or have cold-like symptoms, but some are getting beaten up pretty badly. Of course, there are about 100 people hospitalized right now locally because of the virus and we certainly wish them well. Let's be honest though, add the stress of avoiding COVID with a sub zero wind chill, below zero temperatures, and the prediction of several inches of snow falling between Sunday afternoon and Monday night and you've got yourself some stress.

So, how can all make the best of what we have this weekend?

First, we have to remember that we all chose to live here and excluding COVID, it's January and this is what happens in January in the Mohawk Valley. So, suck it up everybody and take the time for my brief little exercise that offers up 10 little ways to maneuver through this stressful weekend.

1. There's plenty to do if you're willing to go out into the world. The Comets are home this weekend and the Utica City FC are playing on Sunday at the Adirondack Bank Center. The Herkimer Originals are playing at Herkimer College both Saturday and Sunday afternoon, plus, Syracuse Basketball plays Florida's State at 2 on Saturday and the Bills host the New England Patriots Saturday night at 8 in a Wild Card ice box match up.

2. If watching games isn't your thing, get physical and play your own. Dig in for the long haul and play a game of Monopoly or pretend you're in The Queen's Gambit and play a game of chess.

3. Why not binge-watch the series The Queen's Gambit on Netflix, or another series or a movie or something compelling on tv? Never in the history of the world has there been so much quality content to watch on television. You might never get off the couch!

4.  Eat your way through the weekend. Order out, order in, cook it yourself or cook something with the people you're with. These days there are so many options to cook really well at home, and all of the fun always seems to happen in the kitchen so take advantage of yours this weekend.

5. When I was a kid, my mother used to pack up hot dogs and we would all bundle up and venture through the snow...in the back yard...only to start a small fire, grab some small branches from a tree and cook hot dogs like you'd roast marshmallows. The fire kept you warm, and the whole process from start to finish burned off a few hours easily. The fact is it was different, and we all did it together. Be prepared for the older kids to complain...but once they're shoving the hot do in their mouths, the complaining stops. (You might want to wait until Sunday afternoon when the temperatures are supposed to warm up because Saturday is going to be frigid.)

6.  Have you noticed I didn't mention playing video games. Well, this weekend might be the perfect time to have the kids and grandkids show the parents and grandparents how to play video games. If the older ones don't usually play, the kids will have a blast telling them just how bad they really are at gaming.

7. If you're not worried about catching the virus, brave the cold and go out! Whether you're heading to the casino, or visiting a local restaurant or bar, there's plenty of great food and things to do this weekend.

8. The last time my wife and I had one of these long, cold, snowy weekends we felt ambitious and tore up the carpet in our den. A week later, we had hard wood floors and in my wife's mind, she forced my hand to spend the money. Maybe it's that project in the kitchen or re-doing the upstairs bathroom, or some other project she's wanted done for months or years. I'm sure there's plenty to work on if you sit for 2-minutes and look around your house. Just be careful, with COVID shortages, some home improvement products are back-ordered so make sure there's a new toilet available for purchase before you go ripping out yours and throwing it to the curb.

9. That brings me to another fun game we like to play. It's called, how long before someone pulls up to the curb in front of your house- and loads the item you just threw out into their vehicle. Remember, one man's junk is another man's item for-sale on eBay.

10. Finally, one more thing you can do this cold winter weekend to keep everybody's spirits high is to drink! Well, obviously this is not for everyone and you know your own boundaries, but a few years back my wife bought a whole bunch of spirits, herbs, spices, bitters, infusions, etc., and she became the mixologist following all of these crazy craft cocktail recipes. I have to say, some of them went down like kool-aid and we all had a blast. One quick warning: be sure to get the Bloody Mary makings for the next morning because those sweet little concoctions were a lot more potent than they tasted.

Bonus Item #11. Try out homemade cures for the common hang over. Trust me, plan this "to do item" for your line up of things to do this weekend. It might be the best part of your frigid, icy, snowy 3-day holiday weekend.

Cheers! And Go Bills!