Nature Still Holding us Frostage with Some Relief by Late Week

You see BJ, the Prangley pet soaking up some of our nice sunsine today. The good news is he did not run from me today when I asked him if he wanted to go outside. BJ had a big birthday party over the weekend when he turned two. His sisters got him some fancy dog cookies and gourmet biscuits as you see below. We should have named him Riley. He has a life that most Kings would dream of and his birthday cookies smelled so good we were all tempted to eat them.


The good news is that we did thaw out a bit this weekend with temperatures briefly hitting 33 on Saturday after our coldest temperatures since the 1990s last week. Today is the anniversary of Indiana's coldest temperature on record set in New Whiteland back in 1994 when temperatures reached 36 degrees below zero. Luckily we are not seeing anything close to that on our bright Monday and we are basking in temperatures about 60 degrees warmer with highs near 20. It actually feels really nice and with all the sunshine to work with it is a beautiful day by Indiana standards, especially compared to what we went through last week. Nature truly makes all Hoosiers hardy and here is a great poem sent in by Karen Howell sharing this sentiment. We are not sure who the author is and I do not think Justin wrote it but it could be almost anybody from our viewing area.

It's winter in Indiana

And the gentle breezes blow

Seventy miles an hour

At twenty-five below.

Oh, how I love Indiana

When the snow's up to your butt

You take a breath of winter

And your nose gets frozen shut.

Yes, the weather here is wonderful

So I guess I'll hang around

I could never leave Indiana

'Cause I'm frozen to the ground!!

You can say this poem applies to all humans and pets here in Indiana. Here are more pictures of your furry friends you sent in and how they have coped with this colder weather.

This is a picture of Haley sent in by Angela Huffer. This beautiful dog is a very interesting mix of a bulldog and husky. He loves his bear he got from Christmas and makes sure to keep him warm as well during a pattern that really has not brought us a warm day in almost two weeks. What a great dog and a smart one too!

Diana Marion shows us Max the Chihuahua's favorite spot over the last couple of weeks. She says he only goes out for about one minute and then comes right back inside by the wood burner. Max believes in cold weather safety and wants to remind everybody to remember all the pets this time of year. Max has a point! This cold air has kind of held us all hostage or you can say "frostage". This cold air just does not want to go away and while you may be excited about a January thaw on the way I am thinking we may not see a true January thaw until we head into February. Nature goes by its own calendar in Indiana.

Yes, we could break freezing barely by later in the week but it will be a brief reprieve from winter and I think snow cover and cloud cover could hinder our warm-up and I am even concerned about a little freezing drizzle in the transition.

The bigger story developing is that our atmosphere may for the first time this winter team up this cold pattern with plenty of moisture by late weekend into next week. The forecast was for two big snowstorms for Lafayette this winter. So far we have been shut out and iced in but our chances are finally looking much better. We will talk about the deep freeze, snowstorms, and much more here on the blog over the next two days. It should be fun as always! I will see you soon. Take a deep breath, remember your manners, and let the blogging begin!