So it's been another week and the temperatures still are hovering somewhere between north pole and Antarctica. It's hard to believe that snow that fell the week before Christmas is still covering the ground; coated by an additional layer of ice that was added on Christmas Day.

That's not all the ice added at my house. I ended up with at least two more truckloads of branches in the yard from the ice storm, not to mention a broken maple tree. The maple was one of our best shade trees in the summer time, so I really hope the remaining branches fill out and take up the space.

As the branches snapped with reports not unlike gunshots in the yard, at least one slapped the back of the house with a loud thud. Luckily, it hit the one spot where I have yet to replace the vinyl siding.

I didn't realize until I got ready to leave that I also had what amounted to a small national forest laying in my driveway. The big pine tree by the drive had cast down three branches as large as small trees, which subsequently froze to the ground. I ended up getting my chainsaw out to move them after nearly straining my guts out trying to pull them out of the ice. I soon found out that the ice had created a thick layer atop the snow, which then made walking across the untouched expanse around my building, which housed the chainsaw, nearly impossible. I figured out I could make better progress by stomping my way through the top crust to get better footing, but not before I fell down a couple of times As usual, I tried to get up quickly after the first fall, lest anyone saw me—as if that were more important than avoiding injury.

In all, it took the better part of an hour to clear the limbs, which I basically cut up and moved to the sides. I'll not try to haul them to my burn pile until this stuff melts.

Due to the ice, my family decided to cancel the Christmas gathering typically held on Dec. 25 and move it to a more hospitable date on the calendar. Saturday ended up being selected.

It's hard to believe what a big change we have seen from last winter to this one. As I think back on it, I think I wrote in my column back in August or so that the pundits were calling for a colder and more snowy winter. Then again, a simple coin flip is right half the time.

You know, the winter is really supposed to just be getting under way. If you go by the calendar, the first day of winter was Dec. 21. However, it's certainly been feeling like winter all through December and part of November, too.

For the past three weeks I don't think the temperatures have ever gotten very far into the 40s, with the average no doubt somewhere just below freezing. I was talking to a fellow from New York state who mentioned that people there often go in short sleeves when it reaches 40. I can see how that works, since I've been going outside without a coat a few times on sunny days and not really feeling very cold.

However, that didn't stop him from wearing his coat lately, I noticed.

I can usually tell a lot about the weather by how fast the firewood disappears. I've really been burning through the wood quickly, with about half a cord being fed into the stove in the last three weeks. I've already burned almost a cord (a stack that measures four feet wide, four feet high and eight feet long) this year. I try to keep a half cord stacked on the porch at all times, just in case the weather turns wet and nasty.

In recent years, a hot fire hasn't really even been necessary until January and February. We've seen cold snaps that last a few days, followed by warmer days on which the ice melts and I can get caught up.

This year, it seems like that's not going to be the case. But just like everything else, whatever is happening right now seems like it will stay that way. But as we all know, change is the only true constant in the natural world.

I was out one evening this week with the maul, which I had to pull out of the ice by the wood pile, busting up some of the exposed wood so I wouldn't have to dig out the rest. I had some poles the right size, but they were snowed and iced under to cut them up. Instead I split about 10 medium locust and hickory logs. I didn't even have to use a chopping block because the ground was frozen so hard.

Wood seems to split easier when it's really cold, so that's a good thing. Even so, I soon found myself breathless in the frigid air, sucking wind through my mouth like a long-haired dog on a hot day. That's a sign that I need to do that more, not less, I thought as I stopped to catch my breath.

It's hard to imagine overheating in sub-freezing temperatures, but firewood usually gets me there in short order. As the old saying goes, wood heat warms you twice. In this case, I was 'warmed' when I cut and loaded it, then when I unloaded it and now when I split it and carry it to the porch.

Firewood represents the only hard labor I do in the winter, other than a bit of snow shoveling and walking back and forth to the refrigerator to make sure the leftovers are still fresh enough to eat.

In that light, it could be the only thing standing between me and obesity. After all, I've probably eaten at least my own weight in ham, turkey and holiday treats.

Perhaps I can look forward to starting back on my Wellness Center routine in the next week or so, since I've not really been at all in the last month or two. That might not be so bad if I hadn't bought another one-year membership back in August. I've not been very faithful to that effort so far, but so long as there's breath, there's hope. Judging by how things went splitting wood, I don't have much of that, either. At least I'm still plenty fit to walk back and forth to the refrigerator.
 

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