Elephants never forget [Further Explanation]

The above video explains a little bit about what causes an elephant to become unpredictable, but actually there is much more to it than that.
At one camp where I worked, there were some 80 plus elephants, so while caring for a wonderful female, I was in a position to observe much on elephant behaviour.
During must, several incidents occurred. One bull managed to break away from his chains during his oncoming must and savagely attacked another bull with his trunk and tusks. This happened around 9pm, well after the day was over. After successfully re-chaining up the bull by several mahouts, we went to inspect the damage. The injured bull was on his side with his intestines hanging out. A vet was immediately called, intravenous drips were applied and any other first aid we could provide to make the elephant more comfortable until the vet arrived. Until the vet's arrival almost 3 hours had passed and it was obvious that our injured friend was in a lot of pain. Tires were placed under his head in addition to the drips. However, lying down for long periods of time is dangerous to the elephant, because this puts too much pressure on the heart and lungs.

Once the vet arrived, he had to cut off a large section of the intestines, which were ripped beyond repair.
What could be saved was stitched up. Massive doses of antibiotics and other medicine were required to keep the elephant out of danger and lessen his pain.

The whole camp was on their toes, trying to help this bull!! The next morning, he still wasn't able to get on his feet and that was the sign of danger. We eventually got a crane to him with a sling. The best the mahouts could do was to get him to sit up. This was enough for us to get the sling on him. He was then lifted to a standing position in the sling.
The sling is another problem if it is used for long. Sores develope, similar to bedsores in humans that are lying down in bed all the time. With this bull we didn't have to wait that long. He was slipping and there was nothing anybody could do to save him. He died only a few hours later. Everyone was sad.

The owner of the camp is a Buddhist and followed the Buddhist death ritual for elephants.
After a grave was dug by a crane and the elephant was placed inside his grave, he would be covered with a decorative blanket, used for elephant shows and special occasions. Insense sticks and candles would be lit for him and food that he enjoyed would be placed in the grave with him.
In this elephant's case, 7 monks arrived to chant "Apitam" for his spirit to find peace and not be vengeful in his death. A white string, which Buddhists call "sin" is tied to the elephant's tusk and is held by everyone present. After the monks have left, the blanket is removed together with the elephant's tusks, part of his trunk and his testicles. The grave is then filled in with dirt. That is pretty much a lucky elephant's funeral.
Lucky because he was owned by a staunch Buddhist who gave elephants the rites they deserved.
The elephant is the only animal award this honor because Buddhists believe that they are a very high form of incarnation. 

Elephants never forget so don't upset them- Ultimate Killers - BBC wildlife

Elephant at Mudumalai [Annex to blog Plaikeow - introduction]

Plaikeow

When I came to Thailand for the first time, I was introduced to 2 baby elephants, a bull and a cow.
Plaikeow, the young bull was 5 years old and Sau, the female was 3 years old when I met them.
I became friends with Plaikeow's mahout and was subsequently introduced to the 3rd baby elephant, Beng, also a bull and only 2 years old. One day Beng's mahout was giving Beng a drink by placing the water hose in his mouth and I was placed on Beng's back. For baby elephant, we ride behind the middle of the back because the neck muscles are not yet developed enough to carry human weight.
All of a sudden Beng drops the hose, does a 180 degree turn with lightning speed and takes off full speed.
I've had horses bolt on me before, but nothing prepared me for the uncomfortable ride on a runaway baby elephant! At the time my thoughts were the same as when I was on a bolting horse. I had no ankus to control the baby...I wouldn't have known how to use it anyway. I had nothing! My only thoughts were, "just go with the flow of him and don't fall off!!! I closed my legs on him and grabbed hold of the chain around his neck, while he bolted some 500 meters before coming to a full stop. I turned to see the mahouts running after the elephant and when they reached where I was, I dismounted and Beng was chained to his usual tree.

Little did I know that on the other side of the field, a crowd had gathered and was watching this whole fiasco!! After chaining up Beng, I got in my jeep and me and the mahouts headed back to Sau and Plaikeow.
I had to pass this crowd and was greeted with "Yeh, good jockey!"
That was my official welcome to the elephant world!

Now Plaikow's mahout thinks to himself, "yep, you're for real" and before I knew it, I was playing football on Plaikoew's back during the elephant show!!!
My relationship with Plaikeow thrived, which is most unusual because generally bulls don't like women.
I would drive up to the theatre where he performed, loaded with bananas. The mahout would unchain him and he would promptly come to the jeep and check it out. The enclosed video is an example of how elephants check things out. They smell, then blow the scent back into their mouth where glands then send the information back to the brain.

One day I went with the mahout into the jungle to get Plaikeow. Two of us were riding him. Suddenly Plaikeow ignored all commands by the mahout and headed towards a hilly area where he picked up a large ripe jackfruit. His mahout insisted that he hand over the goods, but Plaikeow made several loud vocal complaints before raising his trunk to show us the jackfruit he had obtained. He was not about to hand it over! Promptly shoving the whole fruit into his mouth, he walked to the show area like a fat cat.

It was always easy to read Plaikeow's moods when we got him from the jungle. When he was happy, his gait was smooth as silk. When he was in a bad mood, whether he showed it or not, he had a very choppy uncomfortable gait that kinda went clonk, clonk, clonk.....
I mean very uncomfortable.

Now let me elaborate a bit on the "ankus" used to control elephants. Bear with me a bit, because the ankus has got to be one of the most misinterpreted tools around. Most people see it as a lethal weapon. While this can be true, that is not it's intent. You could compare it to a bit in a horse's mouth. One only applies enough pressure to get a desired reaction, the same as the rider of a horse would, using the reigns connected to the bit in the horse's mouth to control a horse. The tip of the ankus must be sharp, otherwise the animal would have no respect for it. Think of an average 80 kg human being trying to control 5 tons!
The elephant's skin is not nearly as thick and insensitive as most people think. An experienced mahout rarely leaves marks of injury on his elephants head. If such injuries occur, it's because a quick sharp reaction was required in a particular situation. For example, the elephant is crossing the road and a car is speeding towards that elephant. To prevent an accident, quick reaction is required by both elephant and mahout.

Tweet - The Conclusion

Tweet, the baby nok gachok has occupied my room since April 14th and believe me, there was never a dull moment. Whether I was sitting at the computer or having my lunch, Tweet was constantly chattering away. There were moments where I couldn't help but ask myself, doesn't this bird ever shut up?!
If Tweet was hungry, the chattering only got louder and more demanding. If that wasn't enough to attract my attention, he would fly past my face, make circles and land on the TV, the floor, my pillow!!!!!
That did it! Either he was going to be fed NOW or I'd never see the end of it. Tweet had conquered my hut and my heart.
During his stay in my room, I began noticing another bird of the same species in the trees near my house.
I thought, "the day of freedom is near and Tweet now has a friend". I noticed that this adult was diliberately hanging around the hut, while inside my room, Tweet was happily chattering away.
The big day finally came. This morning, before morning chanting, I noticed the adult again, this time very close to my hut. I took Tweet and placed him on the branch of a young tree. After morning chanting I came back to see whether Tweet was still where I had left him. He was gone. I sat on the steps of my neighbor's hut with a cup of coffee, waiting to see a sign of Tweet. The sign came soon enough. I heard his chattering coming from the large mango tree in front of my house. A few seconds later, much to my surprise, I saw 2 adults sit on the branch where I had left Tweet, with food clamped in their beaks. One disappeared into the mango tree where Tweet was and the other bird soon followed. After observing this a few times, the chattering in the tree stopped. These 2 adults had officially adopted Tweet and were taking care of him.
A feeling of total satisfaction filled me. It's a feeling that's hard to describe. Knowing that my baby bird had finally obtained his freedom was the climax of the day and especially rewarding, after having to clean bird shit in my room for a week.

One success story, hopefully soon to be followed by another one. There is still the baby male black kauwow, that will be ready to embrase freedom in the not too distant future. Will keep my audience informed when the time comes.

Songkran

It's that time of the year again, where children ask for blessings from their parents and grandparents, the time of ushering in the Thai New Year. It's also a time for fun. Since now is the hottest time of the year, Songkran means the water festival as well. For 3 days, there is a combination of making merit at the temples and splashing everyone with water. Another tradition is the rubbing of  "Nam Ohp", a fragrant and cooling liquid on people's faces. Nam Ohp looks similar to calamine lotion, but is very fragrant.

My Songkran celebration included none of the above. A human tidal wave came up to the chedi, vertually throughout the 3 day celebration. At one stage it was so bad, because of the human stench of sweat, that I almost reeled over backwards!

Since March 28th, I've had a new boarder....a baby nok gachok. Nok is the thai word for bird.
I have no clue as to the english name of this bird, but I will describe the baby. Maybe someone out there is familiar with this type of bird and will tell me what the english name is?!
The baby is greenish brown with a dirty white belly and about the size of a sparrow. Its beak looks like its been glued on to a clown's mouth, because of the white rim on both sides of it. It has pink legs and feet.
These birds do not gather in flocks, but rather stay together as a pair. I don't know whether this one is male or female, but whatever it is, a member of the opposite sex will eventually come for it.
How did this one find its way to my doorstep? 
One of the nuns heard a loud noise outside her hut and came to see what the commotion was all about. She saw 2 adult birds trying to peck at the baby, who very cleverly hid itself among the flower pots.
Now since I know that the adult birds often raise kauwow babies, I started feeding this baby with pellets soaked in water. It strived. At first, because it was so small, I kept it in a bucket with a T-shirt in it, in my room. Within 3 days I came off the chedi into my room and couldn't find the bird!!
Fortunately for me, this is an extremely vocal bird. I heard its call, but still couldn't find it. After homing in on its call, I found it behind the TV.  It had crawled up the cover of the TV and was clinging to the cloth!
I fed it and put it back where it belonged. When I came off the chedi again, I heard the small voice coming from the vicinity of my computer. It was sitting on my bed, demanding to be fed. That did it! This bird was not staying in my room! Out to the cage it went, where it remained until today.

Again a surprise visitor, this time for Sonkran. A baby black male kauwow had fallen out of its nest in the tree right in front of my house! It tried to run away, but had the grace of an albatros. It has huge feet and is very clumsy on the move.  To top it off, it is also very aggressive.
What do I do now??? No cage for this one!!
After weighing things over in my head, I decided that Tweet, the baby nok gachok, would stay with me in my room and the cage would be given to the newcomer. Tweet is definately a good name, because the baby nok gachok is about as vocal as any bird I've ever met. This afternoon, its been flying around my room. Short clumsy flights, which will soon be graceful enough to enable freedom for this baby
Wish me luck folks because the time is close at hand. Will let everyone know the outcome of this adventure.

Phi Khun Tong

Approxmately 7 years ago, while I was still working as a mahout, I came accross a most extraordinary female elephant named Phi Khun Tong. She was sick for nearly a year, but nobody could figure out what was wrong with her. I was taken off all other elephants and was told that she was now my only charge.
Early in the morning I would take her into the jungle at about 8am and would return around 5pm. I rode her going out, but just walked with her while she was allowed to pick what she wanted to eat and play with mud to protect her skin. She would be bathed 2 or 3 times a day in the nearby river and continue to graze along.
No matter what I did, she was not putting on weight like she was supposed to. One day I took her into the jungle to graze and I fell asleep under a tree. When I woke up, I found myself looking up at her belly. I was stunned. The sun had continued its course and I would have been sleeping under direct sunlight if it weren't for her. She had stopped grazing to come and protect me while I slept, by shading me from the sun and making sure that nothing could harm me. No one would have been able to come within 4 meters of where I slept. This behaviour touched my heart in a way that nothing had in a long time.
As time went by, her love for her mahout became more and more pronounced. It got to the point where I couldn't sit on the grass without her worrying about me. She would continue grazing, slowly moving in circles around me, checking all the while she was grazing. I never needed chains for this female when I took her out, because if I called her, no matter how far away she was, she would always immediately return to my side.
We were a team for a very short 3 months before her illness got the better of her.
She had TB, but nobody knew. We only found out after she died.
Here I must state that the diagnosis for tuburculosis in elephants is much more complicated than it is for humans. In a human being, TB is almost instantly diagnosed after a chest ex-ray and a saliva test.
In elephants it takes 3 months to make the diagnosis. A trunkwash must first be done. This proceedure an elephant does not like. That means chaining up 4 legs and her trunk, pouring saline solution into the trunk and getting the elephant to blow the liquid from her trunk into a sterile plastic bag. It took 8 people to do this proceedure with her. The sample is then sent for culture sampling and this is the part that takes so long.

Soon after the trunkwash sample was sent to the elephant hospital, Phi Khun Tong got worse and worse.
Looking back on the incident, I suddenly realised that, how can an elephant put on weight if it breathes through the mouth, because the trunk is all blocked up and swollen?
Another thing that we did, is take steps to see exactly how much food she actually takes in. That involves weighing the food, which was mostly pinnapple leaves, weighing what was left over and then weighing the droppings, to establish what she was actually taking into her body. Anything from 100 kg onwards per day is considered acceptable.

One day as I chained her up at a new spot that had hills to make it easier for her to lie down, she started to walk around in circles as if disorientated. This was the other problem. Phi Khun Tong would not lie down to sleep. I believe this was because she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to get up afterwards.
I immediatele informed the owner and that evening we tried giving her some 20 bottles of intravenous drips. We only managed to give her 15 bottles before the vein in her ear collapsed. This happens when the weather gets cool.
Early next morning, me and my elephant were put on a truck and sent to the elephant hospital in Lamphang.
I spent 4 days there with her, before the vet, who was more worried about me than he was about the elephant, told me it would be better if I returned home. The day before I left Phi Khun Tong was so sick that she hardly acknowledged me any more. It was also clear that if she fell, she would not be able to get up any more. For this reason, the vets ordered her to be put in a sling that was supported by a crane. The intravenous drips continued from the moment we arrived, right up to her death. She must have received some 70 bottles at least. Nothing the vets did seemed to help. The vets in a last ditch attempt to help her, took a blood sample to check for TB. Even that takes 3 days and the weekend didn't help, since the lab is then closed. This means 5 days till we could be certain what was happening. Unfortunately Phi KhunTong didn't have 5 days of life left in her. When I arrived back at the camp, the owner pulled me aside and told me that my elephant had died. I was in tears for a long time after that. The other mahouts tried to encourage me and comfort me. They were wonderful in that respect.

What I had not been prepared for was that even after her death, Phi Khun Tong's spirit would still visit me on a regular basis. She was still worried about her beloved mahout. As her last mahout I did a "sangatan" at the temple for her. Elephants are the only animals that receive the same chanting from the monks that deceased humans receive, because they are considered a very high form of incarnation, closer to humans than most people know.
After 100 days of her death, we performed a ceramony at the elephant prayer house. This involves offerings of chicken, pig's head, fruits, sweets, water, an orange drink and a bottle of "Lau Kau" [a local alcoholic drink that is some 35% proof], as well as a packet of cigerettes.
After the ceramony had been completed, Phi Khun Tong's spirit rarely came any more. She was free now to enter her new world and I can only hope that now she is happy. 

Surprise Visitor

Yesterday was your usual working Saturday up in the chedi. In the evening, I decided to do my chanting in my hut. After I had finished chanting, I sat on the step into my inner room, with a cup of coffee, just chilling out so to speak.
As I got up to retire into my room, I almost jumped. I had a folded light green blanket in front of my computer, where I would normally sit and type. On my blanket was a spider, about the size of my hand!
It was huge!! I looked at it for a moment and finally said, "Thank you for visiting me, but please leave because I am afraid of you".
No sooner had I spoken these words, within seconds that monstrosity of a spider b-lined for the main door and disappeared under my hut. I was astonished over the incident, but couldn't resist a smile afterwards

School's Out!

It's that time of year again where school children in Thailand have a two and a half month holiday, before school re-opens in May.

During the school holidays, many children will be ordained as novices for a week, to learn about Buddhism and the life of monkhood and Buddhist nuns. This will prepare these children for the time when they will be ordained as adults.
It is the custom in Thailand for every male to be ordained anywhere from a week to 3 months to pay back the sacrifices their parents have made all those years while raising them to young adults. This practice especially frees the mother who not only sacrificed everything to raise her children, but also the pain and discomforts she had to endure during pregnancy and childbirth.

Today, however, there was a mass ordination of a very special nature here at the temple. 217 men, ranging in age from approximately 8 years old to 60 years old were ordained and will spend 49 days in 4 temples in the Ayutthaya area. The purpose of this mass ordination is for the welfare of the country and for the health and welfare of Thailand's beloved King Bumibhol Aduliadhet, who spent 60 years of his life improving conditions for the poor and helping them to cultivate the skills from their individual areas as a livelihood and income to support their families.Our King has also set up health and education facilities in rural areas, not only in Thailand, but in our neighboring countries as well.
What made this day extra special for me was offering the yellow robes and almsbowl to a novice who intends to remain a monk for the rest of his life.
Initially I intended only to witness this ceremony, because I have never seen it before, although I have heard of it. One of the sponsors, a Dr. no less, pulled me with her and told me that we will do this together.
That way we both make merit. What a surprise!
I'm glad and feel honored to have been able to participate in such a joyous occasion.

Between March 29th and April 1st, more than 100,000 men will be ordained throughout the country in gratitude to our King and for the welfare of the country. They will also remain ordained novices for 49 days.

At some point in the near future, young children will be ordained for a week here at the temple. Usually there are some 60 little nuns and some 50 little novice monks every year who spend time here to learn about Buddhism, meditation, etc. During that week, our monks and senior nuns are going to be very busy!
In schools around Thailand, Buddhist studies is a part of the curriculum, regardless of the individual's religion.
All children learn about Buddhism, but the non-Buddhist children are not required to participate in Buddhist activities One must remember that essentially Thailand is a Buddhist country

A Friend from the Past.

Exactly a year after having been ordained, I met 2 extraodinary birds, both connected to me from a past life.

During the first year of being a nun, various birds were brought to me, usually chicks that had fallen out of their nest, for further nurturing until they were ready to be set free. Clearly, although I had left the horse and elephant world behind, animals would be and probably always will  be a part of my life, regardless of where my life would lead me. From elephants to wild birds, that's quite a jump!
To date I've successfully released minor birds and kauwow birds. The kauwow is native to Thailand and
is about the size of a pigeon. They mate and kill the chicks of other birds, especially minor birds, so that these newly bereaved parents would hatch and look after the newborn kauwows. In other words kauwows are not very good parents,

Within a month of eachother, 2 kauwow female chicks were literally dumped on me.
The first one was a handicapped chick that already had feathers, but was so small, [smaller than a sparrow]
I wasn't sure whether or not I could manage this bird. She was aggressive on top of her handicap and for the first few months, I really wanted to put her down. Her left leg was useless and she must have suffered a lot just trying to get to food or water. Minors and kauwows eat pretty much the same food so I bought pellets for minors, soaked them in water to soften them up. This way the chicks could easily swallow and disgest the food. This also had the additional advantage of making sure that the chicks got enough water.

I went to the main Buddha of the temple with the request to put "Peh" the handicapped bird down...a mercy killing so to speak. It just broke my heart to see her in this condition, knowing full well that I was in no position to help her. My request was flatly turned down.

Two days later I had a wierd dream. I was on a street, a modern suburb where old and new intermingled, looking for my house. Somehow I ended up in a basement apartment, where Buddha statues covered the whole length of one hall. I saw 2 men come into the room, one had an epileptic attack, the other had a white mouth with maggots coming out of it. I took one look at these two men and stated loudly in thai, "Where am I to find the merit to help this?" Next thing I knew, I was on the street again looking for my house, when I woke up with a start. It was exactly 12 midnight. I had no idea what the dream meant. A few days later I told my friend about this dream and she said that it related to the 2 birds in my care.
Soon after that, I discovered that Peh was in fact a spirit who had helped me in one of my past lives.
I realised that that was one of the reasons I was not allowed to put her down. I also found out that if Peh were to die now as a chick, her karma in her next life would be even worse than this! It was now my turn to reciprocate the help that I had received many lives ago.

So here we are two years down the line...Peh is fat and healthy and most expressive.
She needs to be bathed every 2 or 3 days, because handicapped birds vertually live in their poop and these are very acidic. Because of this she has two wounds, one on her belly and one just above the kneecap of the paralized leg. After her bath, I apply gentian violet to the wounds, which helps to keep them dry.
She surprised me about 6 months ago. Normally she struggles during bath-time. Kauwows don't like being in the water. This time she went completely limp. I was startled. I thought maybe I was holding her too tight and she died on me. When I opened the towel that covered her head, 2 black beady little eyes stared back at me. I had started bathing her using luke-warm water and it appeared that she enjoyed it.
After her bath and applying medicine, I'd wrap her in a T-shirt till she was dry, while I changed the cloth in her cage and put in clean water and food.

She's turned into a lovely personality, shaking her head vigorously from side to side when I approach her and talk to her. This is her way of showing recognition. Both birds also emit low-key sounds when they hear my voice now....guess that means "welcome back".

When I went to Sukothai and Phitsanulok in late 2010, I needed a baby-sitter for 3 days.....not easy to find.
I finally instructed the nun that would take care of her until I returned, to cover Peh's head when she swept out the bird poop and changed the water or gave food. Peh can bite into your finger very hard when she's not pleased. What I didn't expect was that Peh would start screaming her head off whenever this stranger appeared. You had to hold your ears, the sound was that loud! When I returned from my trip I received the warmest welcome I could ever have hoped for. Plenty of head-shaking and low key noises from both birds. They were clearly pleased to see me back.

The moral of  this story is that handicapped birds are no different from handicapped people. Neither is capable of helping or taking care of themselves.

This is also a small part in the day of a Buddhist nun. Without compassion for all creatures, there is no hope.
I've received and benifited from the compassion of many people as well and this is part of my way of giving back the blessings that I have received.

Phiksuni and Buddhist Nuns

Recently I've been surfing the web and came across an article about the disputes regarding ordaining women.
The ridiculous part of this was that this movement was seen as part of women's equality.

Buddhism has traditions that are far too old for such a thing to even be an issue. I further noticed that the Buddhist nuns discribed were in fact Phiksuni.

Let me clarify a few things since this is something that really affected my intelligence and understanding.
There are various titles in the hierarchy of Buddhist society.

To begin with, Lord Buddha was against women being ordained for the simple reason that biologically they had various handicaps. 2500 years ago monks had to withstand all kinds of danger. Attacks from wild animals and malicious people for starters. Comforts were few if any. Women faced the additional handicap of menstration and the possibility of being raped. Can an ordained woman walk around bare body or piss anywhere she goes? I don't think so. There was a good reason behind Lord Buddha's hesitation to have women ordained and it had nothing to do with women being able to reach enlightenment, as well as men.
It was a safety consideration pure and simple. So for this to be a question of equality is ridiculous.
Phra Annun, who was Buddha's faithful disciple,was the one who started the "samnak" for Phiksuni.

Samanaen is a monk under 20 years of age and as such remains under 10 precepts until he is ready to take on the 227 precepts of full-fledged monks, i.e. Phiksu.

Phiksuni on the other hand are under 311 precepts, so thus would be catagorised as female monks. They wear the same robes that the monks wear.

The point here is that even if a samanaen has been ordained for only a day and is under his 10 precepts,
Phiksuni with her 311 precepts must bow down to the samanaen. This is the way it's been for thousands of years. Everything has it's place and there are sound reasons for why things are the way they are.

There is another catagory of ordained women called Maechi. These are the true Buddhist nuns and are only under 8 precepts. Depending on what country they're from,  their garb might vary from place to place.
In Thailand Maechi wears all white garb, whereas in Burma the Maechi wear light pink garb with a yellow cloth that goes under the right armpit and over the left shoulder.
For those of you who have seen my profile, that is the typical attire of Thai Maechi.

My next post will be more on karma and consequences.

Bats galore!

Hey Elmo, I finally did it!!! Should be proud of myself. Couldn't have done it without your encouragement and support. Thanks Mate!

After a long absence the bats of the chedi have returned in numbers. Yesterday there were some 20 of them.
Today I counted more than 30 bats!
I've never seen that many of them in the 3 years that I've been a nun.
I was curious as to what made them show up all of a sudden and suddenly realised that the "mango" season came early this year. This whole domain is full of mango trees and the bats had to compete with the squirrels, birds and most of all, the Thais who like to eat mangos when they are green and sour. It's food rush-hour out there and the season doesn't last long.
The bats choice of residence probably won't last long either.

Freezing!!

After several days of unusually cold days in Ayutthaya, thankfully the weather is back to normal 34deg.c.
After living in Singapore for 25 years and Malaysia, Indonesia and South Thailand for several years, 18deg. was more than I could bear. I looked ridiculous and was the laughing stock of most of the nuns here!
5 layers of clothesm the 5th being a jacket that would be suitable for European climates...2 pairs of socks, leg warmers and a hat! Talk about a sight for sore eyes.

I refused to do anything but creep under my comforter with jacket and all.
When the weather finally became normal again, I sat down and had a good laugh about it.
Well who cares? I was cold!!