Wow, it's COLD-ER!

NW Arkansas is having the coldest temperatures (we're told) in 20 years! This morning the temperature was 6F - -14C - ("feels like" -13F) with a thin coat of ice on everything and anything horizontal. Last night we had a dusting of snow/sleet which has frozen on the ground. Just enough that we really can not go anywhere on a smooth surface. We can walk OK, if we stay in the areas that have grass beneath the snow/ice. With the wind blowing the wind-chill is below zero fahrenheit.

It's supposed to be COLDER this weekend! I need to train our dogs to pull a sled - if only I had a sled for them to pull.

A few pictures of the icing:

Our front sidewalk, our driveway and the street. The gray sidewalk in the lower right is "clear" and dry. The rest of the paved areas is ice-covered.

Our street. Notice the reflection of the stop sign in the icy street. That's "black ice" and not black top.

Our backyard deck covered with a film of ice/snow. I can't get to my studio - yet. I'm hoping that the sun will melt the ice enough. But I don't think that will happen anytime soon with the temperature being 10F.

Melissa, our dogs and I are warm and comfy in our house. Melissa & I are coming down with a BAD case of cabin fever, but I guess we'll play Monopoly or something. Daytime TV doesn't interest either of us - unless MAYBE there's a good movie on one of the cable movie channels. I can wish in one hand and c**p in the other and see which hand is filled first!  :-)

MORE Snow? Yes! And the temperature outside is C-O-L-D!

The "Lady of Our Veggie Garden" wearing her snow hat.

Melissa's pergola with the tarp-covered "froggie pond"

Our backyard deck and pergola with my studio in the background. You can see one of my stained glass windows through the right-front window!  A happy accident!

It snowed some more last night but this morning dawned brilliantly clear and COLD. Our high today was 28F, -2C.  The temp now 8:30 PM is 14F, -10C.  The TV weather guy says we'll have temps around -2F, -18C around the weekend. I'm going to ignore the cold and pretend that it's warm.

Melissa's "froggie pond" (about 50 gallons) thawed enough by last night so that we could install the "pond warmer".  We checked the pond this morning and the heater seems to do the job!  The heat lamp we used first was 250 watts, the pond heater is "only" 75 watts. 

I had to go to the pharmacy today and getting to the main highway was not bad in our all-wheel drive Subaru. We live about a mile and a half from Highway 62 which was plowed and sanded. Hwy 62 was clear and mostly dry by the time I ventured out. The hardest part was driving with the bight sunshine making a terrible glare off of the snow and wet roads.

Snow day - January 3 2010

Last night and today it snowed about 2 inches before noon. The snow is still falling, but not enough to accumulate - much.  The snow is too dry to make a snow ball so I can't make a snow man.  Simon (our small boxer) and Bella (our miniature schnauzer) like to chase any ball and eat ice so they love it when I can make a snowball and roll them across the deck.  Simon is our "putz" dog. He doesn't march to a different drum, he has a whole different orchestra to march to.  Anyway, he loves to run, put on the "brakes" and slide across the deck

Looking South East. The deck WAS cleared off, then more snow! But at least I don't track snow into the studio or into the house.

Looking West. Our "fire element" is the lump of snow in the right corner. Our veggie garden is under the snow just behind the fence and arch.

Our dogs eating snow. From left to right: Simon, Casey and Bella

Our outside5 inch tree ornaments with their snow hats.

Melissa's little pond in her pergola area is frozen solid or almost solid. We put a heat lamp under a cover hoping to thaw it out enough to install a "pond heater". She doesn't want her frog population to freeze. That's about all we have to worry about!  Life is good to us.

 

Melissa's pergolal. The "box" on the left is the covered frozen "froggy" pond.

Through our peek hole in the froggy pond cover.  There's a frog under the heat lamp. The ice is melting! Melissa is happy.  (I'm happy that Melissa is happy.)