Serious Weather

Half-a-day at the museum and I manage to be late for that. More snow, then above freezing for the last time in the coming week. Mackletree is a sea of slush, takes me 30 minutes to go 5 miles, but I need some supplies and I might not get to town for a few days. Back-up whiskey, back-up tobacco, makings for a cream of squash soup, cream. When I get home the driveway is a mess, crampons and a heavy pack. The freeze-thaw slog. It'll be hard again tomorrow. The lake should freeze this weekend, highs in the low 20's, lows in the 10's. It was above freezing for several hours today, and there was a major occurrence of what I think of snow-fog. Evaporation, to a limited extent, the air being so saturated that the new vapor only gets 20 feet in the air before it falls back as drops. But it's a dense fog. Lovely, the way it hangs in the hollows and softens all the edges. The walk down this morning was treacherous, the layer of snow was separating from the frozen driveway, every step was an adventure. Truck covered in wet snow. The remaining ducks, and they live here year around, have taken up residency in the Park Shelter. I always stop at the lake, to re-pack my backpack, in winter, because when I park at the bottom of the hill, I want to hit the ground running. Get home. I have no stronger, what? intelligence, response, than that. Of course the power went out. No back-up heat, crank the stove, layer on clothing, move over to the island, light the oil lamps, a few festive candles, rereading "Suttree". One of my all time favorite books. Stoked the stove one last time, crawled into bed, long underwear, socks, and a wonderfully soft merino wool sweater Steph sent, along with several others, in her campaign to keep me from freezing to death. Out of bed at dawn to start another fire, cup of coffee, suit up, and outside to split kindling while the house warms. Brisk 15 degrees. New Year. A round of pine, maybe 20 inches in diameter, I reduce to small stuff for starting quick fires. I don't burn any pine, usually, but it does seem a good solution for starting fires for the next frigid week. Back inside for another coffee and cheese grits with acorn meal. Power's on. I'll send this and start another later.