This is a very special post for me: it's the first one to include pictures. (AJD is the one to thank, because it's his camera. But I'm the one who took them, so he's not responsible for their obvious lack of photographic expertise. Photography is not one of my talents.)
Over the weekend, we were treated to our very first major snowstorm of the winter, about a foot in all. The snow appears to have stopped, but the wind continues to be very impressive; we're scheduled for gusts of up to 40 mph all day, maybe into Wednesday. Apparently this is the first time in a century that we've had so much snow in a strong La Nina. Last year we had like four or five big storms like this (though less windy), which led AJD to coin the term "snowpocalypse". We have decided to stay inside and not go anywhere for a few days.
Naturally, with animals from so many diverse climates, opinions in the Wild Republic are sharply divided over whether the snowpocalypse is good or not: the animals from warm climates are horrified, but the animals from cold climates are delighted.
Last year, we ended up putting all of the cold-climate animals in the windows downstairs so that they could look out at the shovelled walks (which make the piles of snow seem higher) and feel at home. We haven't moved them downstairs yet, although we still might, but they made a beeline for the windows in AJD's room as soon as the snow started to get serious.
Here you can see Murchison, Flurry, and Vim staring happily down at the snow-swept sidewalk.
The Ice Age animals had a similar idea, but they picked a different window, the one that is partially covered with ice on the bottom. That's Mimsy, the mammoth, on the left; Gus, the glyptodon, is on the right, but you can't see him so well. (Mammoths tend to unintentionally take up a lot of space.)
The rest of the animals decided that the thing to do, when faced with a blizzard, was to have a Jingo. What, you ask, is a Jingo? Basically, it's a sort of party that warm-climate Wild Republicans throw to distract themselves from the snow. The idea is very simple: you run around and around in circles, get massively overheated so that you don't notice how cold it is, and then pass out from exhaustion and sleep for a while. I suspect alcohol may also be involved.
Between the winds and the Jingo, poor AJD didn't get any sleep last night at all. He's been awake for almost twenty-four hours now.
The aftermath of a Jingo resembles a massacre. To give you an idea, I have pictures from two different angles.
It looks kind of like a massacre, right? Or maybe an orgy? But no, it's a Jingo.
If you suspect you may have spotted a walrus in these pictures (and hey, isn't that an upside-down penguin?), and you're wondering why Humphrey isn't in the window, well, yeah, some of the cold-climate animals did opt for the Jingo over the window. In Tibby's case, it was probably the excitement; he's an inquisitive little chap and he probably wanted to see what these warm-weather sorts were getting up to. Humphrey... well, remember I said I suspected alcohol was involved? Humphrey's involvement is one of the reasons behind this suspicion. As to Plouie, well, who knows about Plouie.
Two warm-weather creatures did not participate in the Jingo. Reggie is in my room for south room duty this week, so he spent the night bonding with Seal (as you might imagine, sea lions and river otters have stuff in common) and being perplexed with Sleepyhead (frisky otters do not know what to make of narcoleptics). Meanwhile, Cami decided that the thing to do was simply sit on the floor by AJD's radiator, thus simultaneously a) placing himself in the warmest place in the room and b) placing himself where he can't see the horrible white stuff outside.
Doesn't he look cute (and cold)?
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