I'd Like a Tropical Vortex, Please

Aunt B said her weatherman said that we've got a Polar Vortex up in these parts.  I'd like to order a Tropical Vortex, please.  Even a drive-by, glancing blow of Tropical Vortex would be appreciated.  I just went out to fill up the bird feeders.  Thankfully it's not as windy as it was yesterday but (this is the good part) it's colder.  Seven degrees for a high instead of fourteen and the "feels like" temp is said to be minus four.  No wonder there's only a tiny bit of the birdbath that's not a glacier.  It's pretty and sunny out there, blue sky and bright sunlight, but it's bitter, bitter cold.  I suspect that I looked like an animated pile of knitwear when I went out in my sweater, cowl, hat, socks, and gloves--with my big, heavy coat over the top, of course.

I  have a link over there on the left sidebar to Free Knitting-Pattern-a-day.  I check it most days.  I don't often pin or save the pattern but a couple weeks ago they had one for an earbud pouch.  I don't know why stuff like that piques my interest so much but it does (there was a knitted first aid kit on there last week that's nagging at me), so I dug out some sock yarn leftovers and some tiny needles and cast one on at knitting last night.  I used the yarn doubled, mostly because my US2 needles are half a size too big, but while I love how it turned out I think it's too big all over, so I'll make another one using only one strand of yarn.  But isn't it cute?  I especially like that while the yarns are pretty much the same they aren't twins so the colors overlapped and mixed.  I like that.

This morning Durwood hollered that the hawk was on the retaining wall so I hurried into the dinette to grab the camera and snap a few shots.  It looked pretty cold and sorry for itself, and it kept hopping and walking down the wall as if it was too cold to fly, but soon enough it must have spotted something because it flew away.  My favorite picture is this one where it's staring at me as if to say, "Whatchoo looking at?"

I've worn my red wool sweater in this cold (it's very warm) and still the collar is driving me nuts.  It's supposed to be like a shawl collar but it doesn't stay doubled over.  I got tired of it crawling up the back of my head so I dug out what's left of the last skein and this morning I sewed the collar edge to the neckline almost all the way around.  Maybe now I won't feel like my collar's trying to turn into a cowl.

February 13--The tree rose out of the swamp like a hand from the underworld.  Spanish moss hung from the branches in dripping tatters.  A fish rose making the water's surface shiver in the pale light.  Amanda leaned against the tree's trunk hating the damp that seeped through her thin jacket but glad for the rest and support.

I worked on my lesson handout yesterday afternoon and think I'm inching toward saying what I want to say in a way that the knitters will be able to understand when they're at home and don't have me to explain.  More work on it today, it's too cold to play outside.
--Barbara