When will it end?

Apparently the Polar Vortex never really went away: it just hung out in Canada for a while and now it's back.  The University was closed today, not for snow or anything, but just for EXTREME COLD.  We finally took pity on the ducks and after our wood man told us about a nifty self-warming water dish, Jami went to Tractor Supply and splashed out on that and some bales.  This is their new daytime hangout:

According to the radio, Flint has set a record for snow in January with 31 inches. Also, the wind chill across the "listening area" tonight is supposed to range from 20 below (Fahrenheit, remember) to 30 below (which I think is the same in degrees C and F).

Thomas bassoonin' (along with some other kids)

Forgot to post this from last week:

(You can see him to the right of the conductor.  The bassoon is hard to miss.  As is Thomas's hair.)

Brisk!

Snorkel Parka

Against the advice of all weather prognosticators, Frederick and I set out for another trek into my office (all schools having been canceled, and us being stir crazy).  At one point, the wind was so bad his legs blew clean off:

 Snow was piled high everywhere:

 But as long as he could eat as much of it as he liked, Frederick was happy:

 I was just glad I had my parka.  When I were a lad, these things were called "snorkel parkas" (I believe Matthew was at one time associated with a group, possibly the "Psychotic Suck Maidens", who had a song of that name) for obvious reasons:

Ducks in the snow

It snowed all night, as predicted (in fact, it was supposedly the third largest snowfall ever recorded in the Flint area at 17 inches):

and I'm a little worried about the ducks, what with the "arctic vortex" on the way.  Of course, we could just keep them in their little house with their heat rock, but they do so love their walkies...  So:

Snow (and more snow)

So, right on cue, just as we're about to offload the kids on school, the blizzard comes.  Today was pretty balmy (about 30 Fahrenheit) so I thought we should try sledding before the roads became impassable.  Frederick was game:

It was suboptimal because the snow was very light and powdery so you just sank down in it.  Worse, it was on top of sheet ice, so walking back up was pretty much impossible.  But we made a go of it.

Well, it was still not too cold, so I suggested we take a stroll into the office.  Once again, Frederick humored me.

Once there, we divested ourselves of all but the innermost layer.  As you can see, we came prepared:

 These babies are my new pride and joy.  After suffering cold tootsies in my previous wellies, despite wearing ski socks inside thick woolly socks, I made a trip to Tractor Supply yesterday to buy INSULATED wellies.  And boy were they worth it.  Yes, I am aware they're hideous, but I DON'T CARE.  They even have little handles to make it easy to pull them on.  Now that's thoughtful design.

 The ducks want to know where their insulated wellies are.  They're sad now, but wait till tomorrow when it's supposed to be wind chills of minus 30 or more...

Goodbye Granny (twice)

Here is a picture of Granny passing through the barriers to the passenger-only part of Flint Airport:

After pausing for Frederick to complete his massage...

...we left to a sadly more-empty house.  But then, a couple of hours later, we got a call.  It was from a strange number (and on my cellphone because our house telephone is still out - don't get me started) so I almost didn't answer it.  Good thing I did, because it was Granny calling from the airport to say that her flight had been canceled because (essentially) it was too damn cold.  So, back we went, and Granny got to stay one more night (and cook us one last pot of soup and  maybe a couple of loaves while she was about it...)  This time she had to get to the airport at 5 AM, so it was a blearier parting, and I was too sleepy to document it, but I hope she made it home all right, especially as a REAL cold spell was chasing in to blanket the country in arctic conditions...

UPDATE: just checked email (also out since Monday - I'm in the office right now, along with both internet-starved kids) and I'll let Granny speak for herself:
"Just to let you know that I got home OK, though the first flight was an hour delayed and the second 2 1/2 hours. As it didn't stop snowing all day in Chicago, the TV news screens were filled with pictures of reporters in snowy scenes and warnings that 100 million people (can that be true?) were in the path of the snow storm heading north east, and the flight departure screens with yellow 'cancelled' notices, I spent a rather anxious day until the snow stopped and the sun came out and the Manchester flight was finally posted as On Time (a lie, but there)."

Like the hat says