Have I gone Southern and soft?  OMG it’s cold out there!  I’m aware that the whole north and midwest are iced and snowed-in, so how is it 33°-headed-down-to-21° feels so-o-o cold?

How do some humans not hibernate, like smart animals?  Or actually choose to stay in frigid locations?  It’s mystifying.

My son cleverly timed his Aussie trip for now, and is probably gloating at us from, hmm…68° and flash flooding!  Not quite the inferno I had assumed.

Still, you can’t keep signs of life down–here are some brave resisters.  And here is one astute animal shrewdly going dormant.