Igloo

Winter has blasted away any doubts about her presence in Pennsylvania, or a lot of the nation the e-news tells me.

Yesterday, Toby gave up on his barn cat supremacy and begged at the back door for some wintertime relief; perhaps, remembering that he'd had a blanket-swathed, heating-padded hutch improvised just for him on the back porch last winter. Now the porch is situated to capture cool summer currents of air, so I was disappointed that he has stopped snuggling into the barn hay bales. I got busy early yesterday and had a hutch ready for him while he watched and sat on the swathing blankets, climbing into the structure before I could finish.

When I completed wrapping and duct-taping all in place while the wind deepened the 14 degree temperature, I could hear him purring in his "igloo".

The frame is Toby's wire crate atop a table, on cushions, rug, outdoor-proof electric pad, folded blanket layer, taped to table -- five throw-type blankets, taped again to table and door position taped.

Ahhhh...

Indoors, Karma the Fierce, parks on top the dishwasher or the clothes dryer when in use. Failing that she sits below the kitchen sink where a vent blows in hot air from some apparatus in the basement. she is the same color as the mat, and I've nearly stepped on her numerous times.

The temp stayed in the teens. When Keoni got off the bus from school he followed Karma's example...

...and fell asleep.

School started late a couple of mornings this week for the high school kids who weren't taking one of the mandatory tests they all have to do sometime during the tenth or eleventh (?) grades. I enjoyed listening to Keoni's morning practicing in the music room before he was driven to school.

He's starting a beard.