Welcoming in the (Icy) New Year

 First Post of the Day

This meme fits us perfectly. We really did experience all these things across the state of Indiana two days ago.

(Apparently Illinois experienced them, too.)

The day was warm and humid and then a storm front came through.

With a cold front following it, high winds were screaming and soon tornado warnings were popping up, 

including one for us (the bottom red box on the map.) Nothing was confirmed; apparently it was a quick spin up that did not last. Grateful! (Unfortunately Illinois suffered some heavy tornado damage in a few towns.)

When the cold front blasted through, the temperatures dropped quickly causing wind gusts up to 50 mph. It howled around the house, and we kept the dogs on leashes when we took them out. (Although they declined several offers to leave the house - a rarity for Pepper and Tammo.)

When I got up at 5:00 the next morning, we had had an inch of snow and the wind chill was below zero.

That's Pepper you can barely see on the driveway - she came back inside quickly.

The snow was crunchy - we had had sleet before the precipitation turned to snow. (That's why the snow is shiny.)

As the morning progressed, the winds died down but the temperature remained low with even lower wind chills for another day before it finally warmed up to the mid twenties.

I hibernated. With the ice that was under the snow coupled with the cold, I did not want to risk going outside. Craig didn't either, and neither dog complained about missing frisbee in the park. In fact, like us, they were reluctant to go out all day!

This morning isn't much better. After snow yesterday, then rain and sleet, I checked my weather app when I awoke and saw this:

They weren't kidding. When I stepped out onto the patio to let the dogs out, it was covered in ice. 

It's only January 1 and already I am so ready for winter to be over.

Having said all that, Happy New Year, ice and all! 

It's the Year of the Horse (beginning February 17) and I hope there is a horse for everyone in it, including me.