Finally.  It’s warming back up.  71 degrees this morning, plenty of sunshine, not a cloud in sight.   A pretty typical Key West January day.

January.  The middle of our Ten Day Winter — a cumulative 10 days, more or less, over the period of say, three months:  December, January, and February … when we get occasional cold snaps that may take the mercury down into the 60s or even 50s.  Rarely below that.  And never for more than a few days.  Until now.  This time, it went on for a couple of weeks, starting around the turn of the New Year.  A week ago, we hit one degree away from our all time record low:  42 degrees!

You can always tell who’s a “local” when a cold front comes through. The Fashion Police have been in heaven.

Spotted on several occasions were thick socks with flip flops (and not those stupid “toe socks”; no, I mean regular socks stuffed down between the big toe and its smaller siblings – ouch!).   Multiple layers of hopelessly dated sweaters are the order of the day … along with moth-eaten hats with those funny ear flaps brought along when fleeing the Real World for Paradise’s sunny shores – just in case a ski vacation might be in the future.  One resourceful soul was seen shopping at Publix in full Santa suit because it was the warmest thing he owns (true story)!

Our ubiquitous iguanas have been immobilized by the cold, seen sunning on fences and roadsides in a primal drive to absorb heat.  Turtles in the ocean were cold-stunned, the fortunate ones being rescued and warmed in kiddie pools at the Turtle Hospital up on Marathon.   Today, fish litter the beaches near White Street Pier, the result of of a massive cold kill.

South Florida farmers are calculating their losses to citrus and strawberry crops.   Mahogany and Spanish Lime trees are laying down thick blankets of untimely-shed leaves on the sidewalks.  Heliconias and bromeliads have yellowed.  And I’ve been wondering how the pair of manatees that hang out near Hogfish at Safe Harbor have fared.

Our lovebirds in the garden came through just fine, although I’ll admit to being very anxious about them.  My internet research called them “hardy little parrots”, but isn’t that relative?  At what temperature does “hardy” turn to “vulnerable to prolonged stress” – or worse?  Weighing the risk of trauma and wing injuries by netting them to escape the cold in a too-small cage indoors against coping with the elements in the familiar confines of their aviary, I opted for encapsulating it in multiple layers of quilts and a topper of plastic, to break the wind.  Not pretty, but apparently functional.

The birds refused their daily servings of fresh fruit and veggies in favor of copious quantities of seeds, an interesting demonstration of survival instinct.  Today, they are back to nibbling away on their favorites – apple and bean sprouts.  We’ve returned to short sleeves and are wondering if maybe we’ve had our Ten Day Winter, all at once this year.

I think I’ll go turn the AC back on now.