It will be a good year for the garden. Many insects are not tolerant to this cold temperature and will become fertilizers.

Off topic : be careful, your car engine may be frozen. Starting may cause damage. In many parts of Canada, everyone has electric engine warmer and battery warmer for the cars.

Also, many electric batteries cannot be charged if they are below freezing, they can be permanently damaged

dcarch

I was thinking this might set back the ticks and various problematic insects. I was thinking more about tree and human pests. Brown tail moth has become an increasing issue just south of here.

Thank you. My elderly car isn’t going anywhere today.

Good grief! I suppose there must be heaters for the farm animals. Here I am, all bundled up, and the outdoor temp isn't much lower than indoors. I have no imagination for what you're going through. But stick to ribs? Summer or Winter, chilaquiles the way la mama made them in Mexico, are top of the list. Leftover (next day) corn tortillas, cut into triangles, softened in chili-vinegar (hot sauce) and pan fried with chopped onions, refried beans on the side. A peasant breakfast which will keep you through a day in the fields or construction, or, for Dr. Papá, chasing through the hospital, or for me, clinging to a bus with my books and guitar. :) Unfortunately, I can make the hot sauce--it's just charred serranos with vinegar, salt and pepper--but have never gotten the fry on the tortillas quite right. Still sticks to your rib, but just not as delicious as la mamá's. But there's always pot roast...

We’re not exactly experiencing the same cold blast here, but tomorrow I’m making one of my favorite stick-to-your-ribs dishes. This one…I make it with rotisserie chicken.

https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/chicken-stew-with-biscuits

Fortunately short lived. Temps will rise all afternoon and high of 45º tomorrow.

Still a snowless winter, (knock on forehead). Just a few dustings that did not stay long.

Power went out a few minutes last night but the boiler did not come back on as usual, 😬 but we found a re-set switch, 😀

We have a good power outage plan but not a dead boiler plan.

I have a good stash of broths, soups, chili, beef stew, cooked grains and beans in broth, in the freezer. Full crisper and pantry. The usual winter stash. Perfect power outage meals.

But i took out a pound of lamb mince last night to make Kofta. Another easy power outage meal but not as easy as shopping in the freezer. Does not need the oven. Even the flatbread is cast iron stovetop.

Any outside work for a length of time, i highly recommend a heated vest. I have three batteries,--the same used for cordless power tools. Good for 12 hours+. Warm like heated car seats.

My news feed this morning reported that the wind chill temp at the summit of Mt. Washington, VT was -108F (that's a minus!!), the lowest ever recorded in the US. As someone living in a fairly moderate weather-wise part of the country, that sort of cold is incomprehensible!!

There were also several reports about the extreme cold the Northeast is experiencing, noting that frostbite and hypothermia could manifest with as little as 5 minutes unprotected exposure.

If you have to go out, wrap up well and please be safe out there!!

Lol - It is friggin cold here but nothing like that -108F on Mt Washington. Evidently the coldest windchill on record. What record I don’t know..

Today I am finishing the food I started before the power went out.

I didn't even know it could get that cold in the US... even on a mountain top. BRRRRRRRRRRRR!

“My news feed this morning reported that the wind chill temp at the summit of Mt. Washington, VT was -108F“

😳🥶😳🥶!!!

It was cold here for a couple of nights, below zero, but it's been a relatively mild winter so far with little snowfall. We had that heavy wet snow in November that collapsed my little hoophouses, and it melted about a week later. We have about a foot of snow on the ground now and it's going to be above freezing nearly every day next week, in the teens and 20s at night. It's not unusual for my area to get below zero temperatures for most of January, and it just hasn't happened this year.

Annie

We got to minus 18. Wind chill was well below minus 40. I brought the quail inside, the chickens had to remain out - no housing in the basement for 14 chickens. They were enclosed in their coops and cuddled a lot. I had to replenish solid-phase H2O with liquid phase on occasion. They are fine.

Since we had a solid crust of snow up here, I am not certain enough ticks were killed off. Alas.

freezing rain and wintry mix here for next 24 ... won't last long