The quasi winter weather is winning.  First, howling winds tore shingles off the woodshed.  A poplar with a two foot thick trunk blew over and landed in between the garden fence and compost pile bin.  The two are less than twenty feet apart.  The crown of the tree is at least 15 feet wide leaving little room to spare! 

Then the wind stopped and the rain started.  That morning we awoke to an inch of ice!  Unable to even walk down the driveway I had to sand the tread of the entire road.  Needless to say I was a little sore after hauling and shoveling sand for eight hundred feet of road.  Once that task was complete we could safely drive down the rink into town.

Freezing rain persisted for about 24 hours.  The humidity was over 90 percent.  Local streams ran like spring melt off.  Finally the temperatures dropped.  The sound of pattering rain on the metal roof yielded to frozen swaying trees creaking in the wind.  "Dropped", however, is an understatement.  The temperature plummeted more than thirty degrees in eight hours.  This morning the change in temperature and humidity literally froze our thermometer to a stand still!   

Rivers of ice now flow down ditches and channels.  The recently-turbalent ditch is now a frozen ribbon of ice-choking every culvert it's slow creap to the lake.  On all sides of us the ditches are bank full with ice and threatening to spill over towards our cabin.

Despite this we're still getting out for our daily hikes.  It's slow going as many times I feel like I'm picking footholds up an alpine glacier.  The woods seem empty and still in this bitter cold with just a few cackling ravens and fresh wolf prints to guide us along back home to a steaming cup of tea. 

The air temperature will dip well below zero tonight and may not return into the positive territory for a number of days.  It's about time that we feel some winter air.  Now if only snow would come and insulate the ground to prevent our water lines from freezing!  Besides, it would sure be nice to get out for a ski!