I ventured out just before sundown last night to capture these menacing clouds of FRIGID AIR that were moving in.  Makes for a pretty sunset, but I sure didn't stay out long enough for my noogies to freeze!

Those of us in Hoosier country have joined the people in the frozen tundras north of us, all of us gripped with the icy fingers of a nasty polar vortex.

Just that name sends chills through me...

As I write this, our outdoor thermometer is bouncing between -8 and -11 degrees, and it's predicted to get worse before it starts warming up.

Our cabin, like the rest of the buildings on the Gray compound, is hooked into our natural gas well for heat, hot water, stove, and dryer.  But we are last on the gas line with all the other buildings getting dibs on the gas before it reaches us.  (That's okay by me...my grandbabies need the heat and amenities worse than we do...)  Thankfully our furnace is keeping up, our gas fireplace is robust, and our stove burners are working just fine.  The only thing struggling right now is our water heater, which can't scrounge up enough gas pressure to keep the pilot lit.

I can deal with that.  Who needs clean clothes anyway?  I guess we could take cold showers, but I think we'll opt to go stinky instead.  Hey, we've been in lots of primitive places without showers for several days, so we will survive.  Forecasted temperatures for the weekend are to be in the 50s.  Gotta love Indiana weather!

image from cbsnews.com

So for you nerds out there (me included), the diagram on the right is a schematic of what this polar vortex is doing right now.

Wavy is not good if you're a polar vortex.  Wandering too far away from its North Pole home...

image from Indiana Weather Online

Yep.  We're well on our way to the -14 degrees shown for our part of the state.

image from Indiana Weather Online

If we could just get that crazy wind to stop blowing across these flatlands, it would be a little more tolerable....

This too shall pass.

But for now I'll just stay put and cozy up by the fireplace with my latest book and be thankful for the huge blessing of a warm cabin and plenty of food to eat while we ride out this week's...

...arctic grip.