A Sunny Day

The sun came out today and lit up the lake with brilliant color. Too bad my camera can't capture it! Earlier this month, I said that it was my wish that it would snow everyday. That mostly came true before the lake froze. We missed out on the big blizzard that hit southern Minnesota. But nearly every day, we've had at least a bit of snow falling. The truth is that some of it could have been flakes induced by all the steam that was rising off the lake. Still I count it as snow, since it was white, flaky, and landed on all of the other similar stuff on the ground.

But today it was clear and cloudless, so I knew that it wouldn't snow. It was a gorgeous day, nonetheless, with a temp that started at 15 below and never made it above zero. Since a good friend is here right now to help Greg, I was free to do whatever I wanted to. I chose to bank snow around the base of Tamarack cabin. When I look out the window in cold weather and see the furnace exhaust constantly, it motivates me to do whatever I can to try to insulate that cabin. The exposed foundation needed some protection, and there is plenty of snow to work with right now. So I grabbed the shovel and went to work.I scooped snow from the deck and the ground around the cabin, and then tossed it up against the cinderblock foundation. Each shovelful added to the mound growing around the base. I was aiming to get up to at least the first course of logs, and with some steady work, I was able to achieve that. It quickly became apparent that I had overdressed for the job, though. I took my jacket off and found that my thick alpaca sweater was enough to keep me warm while shoveling, even though it was still ten below. I was impressed with that sweater! My mind wandered to the useful nature of snow, and what a good job it does to keep us warm, even if it is naturally a cold thing. Here I was, working up a sweat, and that same snow was going to keep the cabin warmer. Have you ever seen the photos of little cabins in Alaska, practically buried in snow? All that warmth around them! Wow. I'd love a winter that gave us enough snow to bank the cabins up to the windows. That would be the epitomy of the saying snug as a bug in a rug.


While I keep an eye on the sky and weather report for the next snow event, the deer have started to migrate through our property. These little ones were nosing their way by one of the cabins yesterday. They don't mind at all if people are ten feet away, as long as there is wood and glass separating us. Now that the lake is frozen, my eyes constantly drift out there, looking for wolf activity. Tonight is supposed to be well-below zero again, so that should thicken the ice some more. I expect well be seeing wolves again soon. In the meantime, I'll settle for a pink sunset, another nice bonus of this time of the year.