There are many reasons for people to love living in Maine. We are a hearty bunch … still, there are times when some people might wish for a warmer, less challenging environment.

The Top 10 reasons a Maineah knows they have cabin fever:

• The weatherman’s forecast of another blizzard followed by more snow and a wind chill of -20 prompts you to laugh hysterically.

• Temperatures in the teens are considered a heat wave.

• You lose your van in a Nor-easter that produced four-foot snow drifts.

• You cannot see out the kitchen window because it is buried in snow.

• You start eating dog biscuits because it beats digging out the van and driving to the grocery store.

• Your children’s snow days outnumber their school days.

• As you shovel for the umteenth time, you sing, “Do you want to build a snowman?” adding words that no child should hear.

• You consider building an igloo and begin to understand why Mainers drink more Allen’s Coffee Flavored Brandy than anyone else in the world.

• You no longer get out of your flannel pajamas because you are not going anywhere until St. Patrick’s Day.

• As you take a hammer to the ice that encrusts your car tires, you start singing loudly, “Do you want to slap a snowman?”

Author and journalist Barbara Walsh considers herself a hearty Maine-ah, but a record six feet of snow in 10 days with another blizzard in the forecast has tested her mettle. She lives in Winthrop.