understatement is a Prairie virtue. 
With a forecast high of +3 for Tuesday, some 40-odd degrees C warmer than last Tuesday, I absolutely do intend to fire up the grill this coming week. 
I may too - just have to dig a path through the snow to it, clean the snow off the cover, and Bob’s your uncle!
OP: there’s a modern invention to deal with this: it’s called a garage.
I don’t understand why you have to plug the car in to a block heater in the US midwest and Canada. It’s been -20F dozens of times* in my life, sometimes with a -40F wind chill to boot and most cars that aren’t housed in garages still start as normal here unless the battery is very elderly. What’s different about cars there that require such special attention?
- New Hampshire’s record low (not wind chill!) is -47F
you don’t have to, but it reduces the time your car/truck’s engine is running while trying to pump molasses-thick oil through its passages. my truck was originally sold in Canada and re-imported, so it has an engine block heater. I plug it in for at least a couple of hours if the overnight temp gets in the single digits. it makes far fewer unhappy noises when I start it.
My car has a remote start option. My husband grumbles that I don’t need to use it, the engine doesn’t really need it, etc. I’m the one who sits there for 10 minutes while the engine gets warm enough to keep the windows defrosted, and melt the ice off that my scraper couldn’t reach. I did have to break ice off the door handles the other day.
Yes, this isn’t really that cold. Low teens Amurkin. Still think I’m going to start using the remote starter, because why not.
OP, you’ve made me appreciate northern Utah’s weather today; no mean feat.
can you program a reminder on cell phone to plug in your car before going to bed or post a note reminding you to do this ? I have to post myself notes to do things or I will forget .
“Only,” he says. Sheesh. I like Canada, but this is reason #1 why I will never emigrate there ( reason #2 is they wouldn’t let me in anyway 
).
That or other cold foreign countries like Minnesota. A friend in Minneapolis was recently trying to talk me into moving there when I retire ( great food! cheaper housing! all the modern amenities! ). She then blew her pitch when she idly noted that during her recent visit to Iceland it was actually warmer than Minnesota this winter. If you can go to Iceland for a warm weather visit away from your winter season, I want no part in your frozen hellscape thank-you-very-much.
I should have added a : deadpan :
It’s the duration of the cold that is the issue. When you say “dozens of times” are you meaning dozens of days? or dozens of lengthy cold snaps?
We’re used to cold snaps that last up to a month or so, and that long a time of cold can be very hard on the battery (which has water in it, remember), and that in turn can make it hard for the car to start. The longer cold snaps (e.g. at least -20C for over a month) can be very difficult for the battery. I’ve had a couple of batteries freeze when I’ve forgotten to plug in over a lengthy cold snap. (The longest cold snap I can remember was when I was in university, and it went above -30C once in the month of January.)
Just as a fer-instance, so far in 2017, our over-night low has only been above -20C on three nights. The rest of the time, the over-night low has been in the minus 20s, and sometimes in the minus 30s. The overnight temperature is the crucial one, since if it’s really cold at 4 am, that will put quite a strain on the battery when you go to start your car in the morning.
That’s not a snap, that’s a beating.
I feel ya, Piper! Been out of Manitoba for three years and a bit (Edmonton is not much warmer, but less sustained), and the really looooong cold snaps I don’t miss at all!
Most cars these days you don’t have to plug in above -35C or so. 'Twas a different story in the days of carburetors. However, -30ish is getting into the range where it’s a legitimate possibility that a car won’t start. Batteries have precious little reserve power at that temperature, and engines turn over much harder. My car (which admittedly has a very puny battery - stupid Honda) begins turning over noticeably slower when starting at about -20C, and really significantly complains about starting cold below -25C. It did start the other day without being plugged in at -29C, but it was not happy at all.
That said, I plug in pretty much any day it goes below freezing. It isn’t remotely necessary when milder, but it costs maybe 25 cents a day and it reduces engine wear and significantly reduces the time before warm air comes out of the vents. Plus it keeps me in the habit for days when it matters more.
You can’t fool me. I know you’re no spring chicken. You were up anyway to pee. 
Thank you for this thread…it nicely derails my “moving to Canada” fantasies. (I know, you wouldn’t have me anyway, even though I do speak some French).
It also derails any moving back to Minnesota or Wisconsin fantasies. I have no desire to live in a place where the weather will kill you if the power goes out. (Okay, I’m in Upstate NY now, but it doesn’t get Minnesota or Saskatchewan cold here, and there’s a fireplace and a wood-heated sauna and a supply of firewood, should there be an extensive outage).
Forgetting to plug it in is boring. Forgetting to unplug it before driving off is the fun part.
Pretty sure the OP has started a thread about that in the past as well. 
I read this 20 minutes ago and I’m still laughing.