Just January

This week, the governor declared a state of emergency because of our winter weather. We had a big snow storm (got 8", officially) on Monday.  Then on Tuesday afternoon, the winds picked up. Today we've been below zero all day, not counting the wind chill.

the high temperature for the day at this little place here

The wind chill, which really doesn't matter if you're not outside in the wind, has ranged from -20 to -33 so far, and supposed to dip further yet tonight.  OK.  Sounds horrific.

Except, to me, cold is cold.  I mean, I've been out all three days, doing my normal routine (feed and water chickens, work at the horse farm) plus some chores that aren't normally mine--like stoking the wood boiler and plowing the driveway with the 4-wheeler because DH has been out of town all week on a work trip. If it is to be, it's up to me. Oh, and keeping the cellar temperature above freezing--I've been monitoring that too the last 24 hours--since the pipes coming in from the well and the pressure tank are in there.  Mr. Buddy heaters are handy for more than just warming your hunting blind!

Honestly, bundled up--which you should be if you need to go outdoors to get chores done-- negative 30 hasn't felt any colder than -12 did, and -12 didn't feel really any colder than zero did.  After a certain point, it tends to all feel the same: cold.

It's just January. We've kind of gotten spoiled by the warmer winters of late, and the media is making a huge deal of the current cold and snow.  I especially was entertained today by reading an article on the "record cold" which stated that it hasn't been this cold on this day since 1994 and that it's "the kind of cold that only comes around once every 20-25 years."  This was big news, I kid you not.

Now think about that for a moment.  Today is the coldest January 30th it has been since January 30, 1994.  So 'horribly' cold that it's the kind of cold you don't get often, only "every 20-25 years".  Dude, do the math.  2019 minus 1994 is twenty-five years.  So, technically, this weather isn't anything extraordinary or earth-ending. It's a fairly regular occurrence.

Anyway, enough of my mini-rant.  Here's a few photos of my day, this cold, windy, January day.

snow blowing across the road on my drive to and from work

stoking this thing full every 12 hours to keep the house toasty

working on some knitting (that's actually not socks!)

figuring up a baby quilt design

(graph paper leftover from DH's college days;

none of our kids needed it by the time they got to high school, LOL)

cutting fabric for my next wild baby quilt

bundled up for chores

"Cold, what cold?  I'm sweating!"