Winter

This. Weather. BITES.

Yesterday morning, I once again pondered these questions: If the wind blows at 50 miles an hour all night long, and no snow is coming from the sky, why doesn’t all the snow get where it belongs by morning? Is there an infinite supply of snow in the world that just keeps drifting over the roads? There were white-out conditions most of the way down Maxon Rd. I was behind a Scion van and another car following the Scion too closely when we came to one of the spots on Highway 14 where the wind blows all the way from DeKalb without a tree to stop it. The Scion drove into a drift in the road and stopped dead. The car behind was able to stop before crashing into it, but not in time to leave any space to maneuver. When the oncoming traffic cleared, I was able to drive around.

It seems that winter will never end. It’s been a bad one. Snow with wind alternating with freezing rain followed by subzero temperatures with more wind. I really want an electric car. Electric cars don’t come with all wheel drive. At the beginning of winter, I started a tally of the number of days that I absolutely needed all wheel drive. A priori¸ I thought it would be less than a dozen. I gave up counting by the end of December. There’s no way I can live here and not have all wheel drive.

This morning the temperature dropped 10°F between 6:00 and 9:00 (23° to 13°). It is supposed to be below zero again tonight. The snow did stop blowing, but only because the snow we were supposed to get overnight came as freezing rain, which put a shiny coat of ice over the drifts. Except next to the garage, where there was a big drift of powder. How is that possible?

Drifts in the chicken run.

One thing I enjoy about snow is that the chickens love to peck it off my boots. I never see them eat snow outside, but when I bring it to them in the coop, it is the best thing ever! Chickens are like that, though. Whatever is in front of them is the best thing ever. I’m trying to develop that attitudet.

Terry has been keeping busy shoveling snow and cutting firewood to feed the wood stove in his shop. Making wood warms you twice, Louie used to say. Last week, Terry was splitting some oak and found a beautiful bright orange fungus inside a knot. I looked all over the outside and could not find any indication that the inside was infected. Nature can still amaze me, even in the dead of winter.

Two sides of a fungus growing around a knot inside an oak tree