"Is it COLD enough for you??"

When I was a city carrier, a job I truly detested, and we had a cold blast, that phrase was what I heard more often than I can say from people inside their nice warm home as they opened their door to tug the mail from my frozen hand. Depending on the time of day and how many times I had already heard it, was how I formulated my reply, sometimes I was a bit surly.

The weather man has been telling us more than a week that we are in the path of a polar vortex and they were right. (How come, in the middle of the summer, when we are dry as a bone, that same weather man can give us a 90% chance of rain and it doesn't? Not Fair! Foul!!)

The temps started dropping precipitously Sunday afternoon as the sharp north wind picked up. Bruce was fighting a freezing fountain, yes, the darned fountain again. He was also doing up as many chores for the next day as he could for me since he was going to leave early for a farm meeting. We hunkered down in the house and listened to all the dire warnings of -20 by morning.

So how cold was it and how do we and the animals cope with it?

If you believed our pretty outdoor thermometer, you wouldn't be so cold. Unfortunately I had punched up the weather on our TV and found it to be -13, not as bad as predicted.

It was so cold, that Zoe, who doesn't like to use a litter box in the house, raced to her 'spot' and did her duty in double time and was ready to go back in the house.

"Dig, dig, measure, dig some more."

"Ahhhhhh, the pause that refreshes!"

The chickens were on the roost, basking under their heater which is turned on only in extreme weather. A thick layer of straw on the floor is great insulation.

Lucy has found Mollie's heated pad in her dog house and is now a permanent resident. Mollie has to arrange herself about Lucy and Stinky.

The cattle deal with this weather with full bellies, their corn with dried distillers grains starts the day out right. Then it's onto the feeders full of corn stalks and hay.

It was so cold that Bruce went over at 4:30 AM and covered the problem fountain with a tarp to try and keep it from freezing. It worked wonderfully, when I pulled it off, both sides were open,

WOO HOO! Victory!

The horses coped with the cold by having breakfast inside today, out of the wind and they got along very well. A few minor skirmishes but no knock down and drag out fights.

And it was so cold, our over exuberant  Mollie poked her head out of her house to see who was driving in.

"Oh, it's just you."

"We'll talk later, okay?"

Tell me how you handled the weather, if you spent the day in the basement by the fireplace and you know who you are!

I nearly forgot, it was so cold I put my pajamas under the covers of our bed, where they will be toasty warm when the electric mattress pad timer comes on.