"HOW COLD IS IT?" YOU ASK.

Yesterday, Feb. 1, I was rudely awakened by peals of thunder, and I remembered that a severe cold front was due in preceded by storms. It was about seven a.m., and the temp. was 62. Hurriedly I collected Mack to make a quick run out to the backyard so he could have a personal moment for his bodily needs before the storm broke. A light rain was already falling and lightning and thunder were making both of us flinch, but he did what he had to do, and we came back in. Within two minutes the wind picked up considerably and the downpour began, and the light in the sky had dimmed to the point of darkness again. The storm probably lasted only about twenty minutes, but that was long enough for the side street to be almost completely covered with water, and within an hour the temp. had begun dropping.

I forgot to mention that when I got up cable had been affected by the storm so there was no internet, no phone, and no TV. Just after Mack and I came back in my public radio station had a lightning strike, and it was silenced. After a few minutes they were able to broadcast locally, but didn't get the national feed back for another half-hour or so. Talk about feeling isolated!

A saving grace was that my power did not go out as it has so many times in the past.

Later in the morning I had to take a package to FedEx which is located in one of our larger shopping malls. By that time the streets had dried due to the strong wind. That went fine, but when I moved further down the mall, in the next block, I found that all the stores were closed due to lack of power. Some of those were Petco (my next destination), Office Max, Old Navy, Barnes & Noble, etc. I have no idea when they reopened.

As evening approached, and the temp. now forty degrees lower than in the morning, I made the decision not to put the lock on my gate as I normally do, for fear that it would freeze, and I wouldn't be able to go do my volunteer stint at the Interfaith Pharmacy in the morning. Meantime, PhannyCat decided to handle matters in her own way.

Mack was somewhat wary of this maneuver, but he didn't make a fuss.

Even with the little electric heater in the greenhouse the temp. out there was 42 when I got up this morning. Not a good temperature for orchids, but they'll just have to make do. Of course, outside the greenhouse it was 15 (wind chill, 2), and that would really have sucked the life out of them.

After primping with curling iron and make-up and putting on four layers of clothing I was ready to go to the pharmacy. But no; there was an unforeseen obstacle.

You guessed it! The whole d----- gate was frozen, and I couldn't budge it.

The prediction is for snow showers two days from now, and I think my "gate indicator" shows there is a chance of some accumulation as the ground seems to be sufficiently cooled down to sustain snow.