Enjoying the Polar Vortex

(Author's note: I wrote this several months ago. But as with many things I do, I didn't finish writing in a timely manner and now all the time references are horribly inaccurate. I don't feel like editing however so just pretend it's still January.)

This is me three weeks ago.

At Haus Khaz village in Delhi. Notice the Uggs and winter coat. It was pretty chilly. I think it was, like, 50 degrees.

This is where I am currently.

Port Washington, WI. Taken on January 27, 2014. Not by me. Goodness no. I took my camera down to the lake and saw it steaming and stuff, but decided to stay in my toasty car. It was -15 degrees.

So, as you can see, I am no longer in India. On January 14, Aloo and I left on a jet plane. We don't know if we'll be back again. Oh, babe, we hated to go. (Well, I wouldn't say hated...)  When we left India, there was a bit of a kerfuffle going on and Mr. ATK and I were a little concerned that I would have issues with the dog at the airport. A friend of ours, whose wife, son, and dog left December 27, assured us that there wouldn't be any problems. He said no one even asked to see the dog's papers, nobody looked at the crate, nobody cared about anything.

Dogs in Coat: The Winner

This is clearly the best dog in a coat in India. A puppy with a tilak? Swoon. I've seen nicer coats, however.

(A tilak is the stripe on his forehead.)

Dogs in Coats!

Three men huddle around a fire for warmth on a wintry night

As we descend deeper into this harsh New Delhi winter (low of 41, high of 61), the elements have really taken a toll on the people. The guards are huddled around their makeshift garbage fires for warmth, people are bundled up in ski masks and scarves; it seriously looks like they are heading to a Packers game at Lambeau Field in January.

But you know who I feel sorriest for? Our furriest friends-- the dogs. The dogs here have it ruff. (Pun intended. Hey-o!) Many of them are also bundled up in doggy coats to handle the bitter New Delhi cold. Since people seem to really like lists of pictures of dogs (seriously, does Buzzfeed do anything else?) and I'm always willing to shamelessly pander to the masses to try and increase traffic to ye olde blogge, I have done some intrepid photojournalism to capture the latest in Delhi doggy couture.

Without further ado...