Chop Wood, Haul Water

There's been a lot of rumblings around these parts about it being "a long winter." In fact, if my friends and I had it our way, #wilderbrothers and #buckwheatstash would have been trending on Twitter for the last month and a half. There have also been jokes a plenty about rationing out one shriveled potato a day and worrying about how we'll tunnel out of our homes through the snowy depths.

Are you picking up on the Laura Ingalls Wilder The Long Winter allusions I've been throwing down?

But here's the truth: It hasn't been a long winter. Last year was a long winter (perhaps we think this winter is just an extension of that one, since summer kind of barely happened), but as far as actual time elapsed with wintery conditions in winter 2013-2014, there's actually nothing extraordinary going on. We've had snow cover since late November and it'll probably hold until early April, just like it does every year.

Nope, the only extraordinary factor about this winter is how bloody cold it's been. As a result, we've been hemorrhaging firewood since December and by mid-February we were down to the "new" wood - the birch firewood we'd stacked in the autumn to dry out for winter 2014-2015. Argh. This means, for the last month, we've basically been trying to burn wet cardboard for heat. Needless to say, it was not going very well.

But before you send the Wilder Brothers to save us, I can happily report that we live in a wildfire recovery area, which means there's no shortage of dead trees to burn when the heating gets tough. This cheers me considerably, although a part of me has always fancied breaking up the dining chairs and chucking them into the woodstove ala Doctor Zhivago. To me, there is nothing so romantically dire as having to break up the dining room furniture with a hatchet. 

On our last days off, Andy felled a couple of dead jack pines from the property, which will tide us through until spring days (which are already partially upon us, despite the -20F temps this morning) and allow us to save the not free firewood until it's seasoned properly. As an additional bonus, removing those trees also mean more sunshine for the potato patch come summer.

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In other news, this isn't exactly a spring tiding, but one of the Meyer lemon seeds has finally poked its sunny little face out of the dirt. I'm really looking forward to harvesting my own lemons sometime in the next decade . . .

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Friday Fishing: A Photo Essay

Andy wanted to go fishing on Friday, so he decided on a destination down the lake and packed up the snowmobile. Just another grey winter day with gusty winds, brightened a bit by the prospect of catching a lake trout.

 

We parked the snow machine on the border of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and started the trudge down to our destination, about a mile and half down a island dotted corridor of lake. The wind was really whipping by now and the prospect of serving as a human wind break dulled the promise of expedition, but we trudged on.

 

About a mile into our trek, the sun came out!
 

However the wind didn't quit, and our destination still felt a long ways off.

As pretty as it was, we decided to turn around and head back to the cabin to reassess.

After a bite of lunch, we were ready to tackle plan B. Enter the winter camping tent doubling up as an ice fishing shelter. We headed out just about a half mile from the cabin and set up "camp."

 

Blocked from the wind, with a fire crackling in the portable wood stove, plan B was pretty cozy. 

Hot beverages on demand always make things better.

 

And look, we even caught fish! It would have been dinner that night, but it froze solid in the time between the catching and us packing up camp for the evening. Instead, it was Saturday's dinner.

Not too shabby.

 

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Sunshine, Growth, and Refreshing

This time of year, I always get that sappy John Denver song stuck in my head. You know: "Sunshine on my shoulder makes me happy. Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry."

It's true. There are times when the sun comes out in late January and early February when I feel like I could literally weep with gratefulness. That doesn't sound like SAD at all, does it? *snort* 

Because it's warmed up a teeny bit, we've been getting a far amount of overcast days, so when the sun does shine, I feel like a thirsty dog, lapping it up in big, sloshing gulps.

Of course the one day I didn't want the sun to shine - Sunday, Groundhog's Day - the sun was out bright and early. Six more weeks of winter. She says as though there was any possible alternative to that on February 2nd - of course there's six more week of winter . . . if not more. Le sigh.

Now that the newness of the new year has worn off, the winter doldrums are settling in. I figured one sure way to make spring feel like it's coming really fast was to start a massive knitting project that must be completed by the end of May. Wedding afghan #4, day 1: 

Last Thursday, I consciously avoided Facebook and all other social media all day. And it was glorious. Far too often, I poke that little blue box on my iPad and start mindlessly scrolling through other people's lives, clicking on links, looking for the next dopamine hit. Turns out, a lunch break spent reading a book is far more fulfilling than one spent on Facebook or Bloglovin'. . . .

Speaking of social media, does anyone else use Buffer to schedule social media posts? I just discovered it this week and may be in love. It allows me to schedule posts and tweets days in advance and I can use a little "Buffer" button on my browser to put any website I stumble upon that I want to share into my Buffer queue. I just started using it for some of my social media work this week and so far, it's saving me time and keep me from getting sucked down the social media rabbit hole.

Also, happy 10th birthday Facebook. And now I feel ancient, although my Facebook account is only 8.5 years old. Still.  . . wowzer.

My little Meyer lemon seeds haven't sprouted yet, but the rosemary plant above has been putting on all sorts of new leaves lately. It's so lovely to have something growing this time of year. The lemon seeds take about two weeks to sprout and apparently that tests my limits of "gardening faith" because I had to root around in the pot until I found one of the three seeds I planted to make sure it wasn't rotting. Glory be, it wasn't rotting, it was sprouting so I tucked back under the soil. We should have the first little shoot of lemon trees in a couple days now.

I brought home my mother's sewing machine a couple weeks ago, because I feel the need to develop my sewing skills. I used to sew quite a bit in high school, and a teeny bit in college, but I was never especially good at it, which may (or may not!) have stemmed from the fact that I never actually read the machine's manual. . . . First things first, eh?

How are you beating cabin fever this winter?
 

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Frost nip and other sundries

You know it's been a rough winter when Minnesotans can't bring themselves to discuss the weather anymore. I'm tempted to throw a "F*ck It's Freezing" Party where we drink hot cocoa, play board games, watch bad movies, and maybe even whimper a little bit.

But take heart: it's February on Saturday, and at some point in February there's almost always bring a brief and temporary thaw. So that's something!

It actually warmed up a bit this past Friday, so Andy and I packed up ye olde snowmobile and head down the trail to one of the large lakes in the area. Of course, temps in the 20s just meant the wind was howling as the next batch of frigid blew in. I'd never actually been on this particular lake before and it was a nice change of scenery.  We'll be back, maybe even when the wind isn't blowing 30 mph.

We didn't stay long enough to catch anything. I was hot to trot to get home to make a batch of boeuf bourguignon. As it was, the infamous beef stew wasn't ready until well after 8 p.m., but it was well worth the wait and I feel that Julia would approve of us eating European style (aka, real late). 

I had my first real brush with frostbite on a brief snowmobile ride in -12 temps on a windy lake on Tuesday. It's just frostnip really, which nipped at my cheek and bridge of my nose through a leaky snowmobile helmet visor. I'm familiar with the warm burn of windburn on winter evenings after a day outside, but whereas windburn kind of makes you feel alive, the sting of frostnip is a humbling reminder of just how deadly cold can be.

That said, when I was a little girl playing hockey on an outdoor rink, I used to come into the warming house at the end of a game and sit crossed legged on the bench after taking off my skates, trying to warm up my painfully cold, bright pink toes and not cry. The frostnip pictured above did not make me clutch my cheek and softly sob, so it really wasn't that bad. 

Turns out, frostnip feels a lot like sunburn and by Wednesday morning, it was kind of itchy. A friend suggested I put honey on it, but I had visions of sticking to everything I touched if I did that, so I opted for some dabs of Smith's Rosebud Salve throughout the day instead. Really just glorified petroleum jelly, one of Andy's coworker's dad's company packages Rosebud Salve, which is how we ended up with a tin of it. We've actually had it for a few years and I wasn't sure what to do with it, but lately have been using it as lip balm, and now, frostnip salve. The tin describes the salve as "all purpose skin preparation," which "aids in the relief of chapped skin, diaper rash, blemishes, detergent burns, and rough cuticles, and it softens rough hands." They sell it at Antropologie, so you know it's cool.

On a warmer note, I made my annual batches of marmalade over the weekend - a batch of Triple Citrus (grapefruit, lemon, and orange) and Meyer Lemon. Making marmalade is exceedingly tedious and at almost every step of process (but especially when you're in the midst of supreming 12 citrus fruits which takes forever) you wonder why you bother. Then you see those jars of processed marmalade lined up and it's like you've bottled up sunshine - in the throes of January no less - and suddenly it's all worth it. Plus it tastes pretty good, even if my Triple Citrus got a little gummy. 

Don't laugh, but I actually planted a few Meyer lemon seeds in the pot above. It felt so good to touch dirt. We'll just see if they decide to sprout. . . Meyer lemon marmalade with homegrown lemons in as few as six years, you guys! ;)

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January Calm

I hope this second week of January find you well. I'm feeling happier, calmer, and more accomplished than I have in a long time which is to say, 1) I've started exercising in earnest again and 2) The sun's been showing his pretty face on a more regular basis. It's been a quiet week around here, but a good one indeed.  

This new year, I've been discovering the beauty of MITs, or Most Important Tasks. Each morning I set three MITs and write down a few other things I'd like to get done before evening. Having three things that must get done keeps me on track with the multiple projects I juggle at any given moment and then the rest of the stuff I get done in the day is just gravy. I like to live by a saying I found in an article my dad shared with me from the Irish Times: "Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow." There are certain things that must get done each day, but without setting MITs, it's easy to let other projects which maybe don't need to get done right. now. take centerstage while important (but maybe not so glamorous) projects languish in the background. By setting MITs each morning, I know my day will be well spent and I also know that if I put something off until tomorrow, it will actually get done. 

I'm now signed up for Shamrock Shuffle 8K in Chicago in March and the Ham Run Half Marathon in May. Last night I had a nightmare that I spent most of the half marathon hanging out at the halfway point, but never actually made it to the starting line to actually, you know, start racing. I think my subconscious might be a little concerned about actually being ready for these commitment. But yay for keeping new year's resolutions, if only on paper so far. ;)

I hit my 100th sale on Etsy today.  To sweeten the deal even more, the sale was made by dear, far-flung friend. When I first stocked the shop in late July 2012, I had no idea what to expect. Since then, I've been humbled and amazed to have so many people invite my knitting into their lives. Thank you!

Remember those firestarters I mentioned in last week's post? Here they are in action. They're essentially made out of rubbish (egg carton, dryer lint, and melted wax from the bottom of candles) which makes them an upcycling success. I kind of love that.

The polar vortex is behind us and temps are hanging out in the "perfectly acceptable" range, at least for now. This means we've stopped hemorrhaging firewood. Thank goodness.  

I hit the 20K word count mark on the current WIP. Progress indeed.

I've always had a thing for late afternoon winter sunshine. So serene.

An otter slid down the bay and then right past the cabin, leaving fun slide marks through the woods. I think an otter's life can not be a bad life. 

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The Best Laid Plans - Obligatory New Year Post

Despite my best laid plans, I did not spend this past weekend at crafting weekend. I'm not sure if you've heard anything about this, but we've been having some crazy nasty weather as of late and between the -35 temps and blowing snow/terrible visibility, in the end, I opted to spend the week at home with my new kitchen gadgets. So apologies for lack of baby photos or harrowing crafting tales that follow. However, a makeup crafting weekend has been scheduled for May, so all is right with the world.

As sad as it was to miss out on crafting weekend, I was happy to spend a quiet weekend puttering about the house. Truth be told, I was suffering from holiday sensory overload - too many new shiny things all vying for my immediate attention! It felt right to whir up a batch of chocolate chip cookies with the new stand mixer in record time (that beast be powerful), test out the  yogurt maker, take down the Christmas decorations, and yes, even to clean the bathroom. It was a lovely, peaceful way to herald in the new year.

Speaking of which, hello there 2014, you beautiful thing. Are we all ready to make 2014 the best year ever? If there's one word I want 2014 to embody, it's "forward." It's time to put the wheels of change in motion and start going confidently in the direction of my dreams. No more mampy, pampy stuff. As Maggie says over at Gussy Sews, let's have 2014 be the year we stop watching and wishing and the year we start acting and accomplishing. 

I've known for a while that I'm ready for change, but I've been unsure of just how to create it in my life. To help me craft a successful, exciting, and rejuvenating 2014, I spent a portion of the last two weeks of 2013 (and a couple days in 2014 too), filling out Leonie Dawson's 2014 Create Your Amazing Year workbook. The workbook helps you break down your goals, wants, habits and so much more to get a clear vision of just how you want to shape the year ahead. While I know you could do the same exact thing with a pen and paper on your own, to me it felt right (and more inspiring) to have a "special" colorful workbook to work with.

Since Leonie's really into breakdown your goals into bite-sized chunks, the workbook felt much more helpful to me than just scribbling out a bunch of new year resolutions. As a result, I've set a pretty ambitious income goal for 2014 - one that should lead to wonderful things in 2015, like a trip to Ireland and perhaps some changes professionally - along with a bunch of other totally do-able personal goals.

One of my favorite exercises was making a list of 100 things to do in 2014. 100's a lot of things and my list is only in the 50s at the moment, but I've actually already completed two of those things: making a batch of firestarters (holy cats, those things really work!) and finally dealing with a Christmas sock project (don't even ask) that's been hiding in the Christmas decoration bin for the last five years. A smattering of the other things to accomplish in 2014: take a nap, pick berries, fix my hockey skates, sew something, finish the current writing project, etc. etc. 

Over the last couple months, I've already been working to change up the status quo around here. I went on a major purge this autumn, donating clothes that were never worn, getting rid of or fixing stuff that wasn't work, donating and selling stuff that no longer meets a need. While this might seem a little "woo-woo," I do think the cabin feels more peaceful now and it's nice to know that if you pick up a flashlight, it'll actually work. I also started investing more time in creative writing and as a result, I'm over halfway done with a draft of my current story. It feels like I'm starting 2014 ahead of the game and it makes me excited for what the rest of the year will bring. I hope you feel the same.

Whatever your dreams for 2014, I hope they all come true.

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Preparing to be EXTRA Festive

Has anyone else heard Mariah Carey's EXTRA Festive version of "All I Want For Christmas is You?" Apparently, it's been around since 2010, but my friend Sarah and I just noticed it on our Pandora feeds with this year's batch of Christmas stations and there has been much LOLing go on around here about what the heck "EXTRA festive" means.

I have to admit that Mariah Carey's Christmas album (the NON-festive version, "Merry Christmas" from 1994) is the only pop Christmas album that I really truly (embarrassingly) enjoy. For the most part, the pop music industry tends to strike out pretty spectacularly during the holiday season. I mean, there are only so many pitchy versions of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" or "Blue Christmas," one can endure and the "original" Christmas songs on the top 40 stations tend be even more shades of awful. So good on you Mariah for actually producing  a Christmas album that has brought endless amusement to my Christmases.

I'd also like to thank Mariah Carey for inspiring me to have an EXTRA festive this Christmas season. I'm not sure what extra festive means exactly, but I'm pretty sure it involves glitter and eggnog and probably very loud, emotional singalongs of "Jesus, Born On This Day." This holiday season, I'm declaring everything EXTRA festive, from the cookies to the cards to the decorations. I hope you'll join me in this insanity festivity.

Hey, look at the Christmas cactus getting all extra festive. I don't think this plant has bloomed in December since I got it in 2008, so I'm pretty impressed. *slow clap*

To be honest, other than getting some presents wrapped and a few cards trickling in, it hasn't been particularly festive in these parts. The tree will go up either later this week, or more realistically, next week, and then you better believe, this cabin is going to be all sorts of EXTRA festive. Also, my brother and his girlfriend are visiting next week and there has been talk of a cookie bake with my mom, so soon we all will be merry, merry.

In other news, I've been spending a bit of time charting out 2014. I haven't critically planned out an entire year in well, ever, and the process has brought up some interesting points:

1) If I want to run a half marathon the first weekend of May, that means I should start training on President's Day. That'll be interesting. Because there's not like snow or ice on the road at all in the middle of February. No sirree, Bob.

2) I also realized I've been devoting too much time on, or at least overemphasizing the importance of, this here blog. When all is said and done, a goal of three blog posts a week eats up too much of my writing time and also makes me feel guilty when I don't get to scheduled posts. However, given the above ramble about Mariah Carey, you may be relieved to know that I'll be posting here just 1-2 times per week from here on out, a goal that should be do-able in the summer and winter.

I'm really determined to make 2014, and what's left of 2013, a time for growth and return to things I really want to do. I've started writing 500 words a day on the current fiction WIP and it's amazing how much better that makes me feel about the whole day and how quickly the words start adding up.

We set up the bird feeders last week and pulled out some old venison ribs from the freezer for the birds, squirrels and pine marten. The marten's been coming every day since and thinks he (she?) has a pretty good deal.

I know it's been cold all over the U.S., but I just like to point out that the picture above is of frost on the inside windows of our bedroom. Brrr! Remember to bundle up and stay extra festive.

One last thing, remember those bridemaids mittens? Here's a link to see them in use on the bride's big day. I'm not thrilled with how the mittens match (or rather don't) match the dresses, but I did not choose the yarn and sometimes my inner perfectionist needs to be told to take a hike.

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Advent of the Snowmobile

The years of dreaming and scheming are over. On Wednesday, Andy and I went into town to collect Andy's brand new snowmobile. Here it is, a Ski-Doo 2014Skandic WT 600., I think.

This snowmobile was oft discussed/commented on (by Andy) for the last 3-4 years and each winter, Andy's interest in this particular snowmobile model has bordered right on the obsessive. As someone who's spent her entire life in northern Minnesota yet have only rode a snowmobile a handful of times, I did my best to humor Andy when he got going on a (off repeated) monologue about the merits of a 4 stroke snowmobile engine, but the truth is, I didn't know what he was talking about most of the time. While I'm sure we'd managed to survive several more winters without this coveted toy, owning the machine does open up some winter recreation options and will expand our "stomping grounds" significantly. No excuses for not winter camping this year, although as our neighbor pointed out, the lake trout just got a lot more expensive. 

Ever since Andy committed to purchasing a snowmobile back in November, I've been selfishly hoping that the new snowmobile will mean we won't get much snow this winter. Sadly, Mother Nature had other plans, dumping 14 inches of fluffy snow on us during the latest winter weather watch from Monday  through Thursday. Truth be told, after the 17 inches of snow we received overnight back in April, we were all pretty underwhelmed by 14 inches of accumulation spread out over three days. The school district however continued it's great "snow freak out" and declared an unprecedented three snow days this week. And I should be clear - 14 inches of snow is obviously not no snow.

The irony of the snowmobile's arrival into our lives is that I was actually the first person to ride it. Despite having driven a snowmobile once in my life, when Andy got a wee bit stuck at the top of a hill on the road to the cabin when he took the hill a wee bit slow, I ended up driving the snowmobile to cabin while Andy got a pull out of a snowbank from a neighbor. Andy's taken the snowmobile on a couple spins since (one of which I accompanied him on) but we actually need a little more snow before it's good riding conditions. Also, although the lake is iced over, because that ice was immediately covered by a layer of insulating snow, we're all waiting a bit before venturing out on the lake. The new snowmobile is too pretty and shiny to have it disappear into the drink in its first week of life!

 

Right now, Andy is hoping for more snow and spends a fair amount of time admiring his acquisition. I am not really hoping for snow, but am looking into taking the MN snowmobile safety course online. We're really ready for winter now, whatever Mother Nature decides to serve up next.

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Snow and a Warm Beverage

So, did y'all hear that we're slated to get as much as 25 inches of snow up here by Wednesday night? Isn't that exciting?!? Who doesn't LOVE snow?! Oh wait . . . this guy here writing this here blarrrgh post isn't head over heels in love with snow, but hey, if it's going to be winter it might as well take itself seriously.

For some unknown reason, the local school district cancelled school today, after receiving a mere six inches of snow overnight. Apparently it was a heavy snow and therefore difficult to move. (We just got 4 inches of fluff away from the big lake, so I may be judging town's plight a little harshly.) However, the school district has such a tendency to cancel school right after long weekends, that it's pretty tempting to give their "snow days" the side eye. Last year, they had snow days after both Martin Luther King Jr. day and Presidents' Day. Apparently they're planning to follow the same sneaky plan for more time at home this winter as well. What a bunch of weenies, am I right?

That said, it's so easy to judge others' decisions about winter weather when you spend the season working from home. On the con side, this means you don't get snow days and apparently become very bitter towards those who do (i.e. see above paragraph). On the pro side, this means I also spend those working days with a warm beverage by my side, glancing out the window every now and then, secure in my knowledge that the woodrack is full and I don't have to go anywhere if I don't want to. 

Speaking of warm beverages . . .

When one is born and breed in northern Minnesota, one becomes a bit of a hot beverage connoisseur. Here are some of my favorite cuppas to get you through the long, snowy winter. 

London Fog Tea: My favorite 3 p.m. pick me up. My version just barely resembles what you get when you order this a coffee shop, opting instead for just a splash of milk to the Earl Grey/vanilla brew.

Honey Lemon Elixir: I can't believe it took me until this fall to realize I could put lemon slices in a jar, cover them with honey and then keep it in the fridge for a delicious "on demand" citrus beverage. Add a few thin slices of ginger to the jar and you have the perfect zingy beverage to keep the sick germs at bay. To make a cup,just spoon a couple teaspoons to the bottom of a mug, fill mug with boiling water, stir, and enjoy. Also, if you wanted to put in a little brandy in your mug before add the hot water, you'd have basically created a no-fuss hot toddy. Say "yum yum."

Apple Cider Syrup: Hot apple cider used to be a special treat around here. Then last year I discovered Marisa McCellan's Apple Cider Syrup recipe. Now a batch of that syrup is in my annual fall canning line up  and I get to enjoy hot apple cider (the real stuff, not the icky powdered crap) all year long.

Cocoa: I feel like hot chocolate is the original hot beverage of choice. We always had Carnation Brand Milk Chocolate hot cocoa growing up, but now our small town grocery store only stocks Swiss Miss and the generic brand. As an avowed Swiss Miss disliker, we almost always have a tin of generic hot cocoa around the cabin. I always make mine with water and just a splash of milk at the end "to cool it off." If I'm feeling really fancy, I jazz it up with whipping cream, vanilla ice cream, a mint tea bag (Mmmm, grasshopper), or, on the very rare occasion, a splash of Bailey's Cream.

Local teas: I've been trying to diligently reduce the amount of packaging and just stuff in general in our lives and I had a lightbulb moment this summer where I realized that herbal tea is, well, herbal and some herbs grow right in my backyard. Now there's jars of dried mint and raspberry leaves in my kitchen that I can brew up in my tea ball whenever I like.  

What's your favorite hot beverage?

 

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Thanks Giving and Snow

For the last couple years, Thanksgiving has marked the beginning of winter in these woods.It's an odd little coincidence. Last year saw us driving home for Thanksgiving festivities in a sloppy snowstorm; this Thanksgiving morning we woke up to 3 inches of fresh, fluffy snow. I guess it's kind of pretty.

The lake (the part we can see at least) iced over the day before Thanksgiving. When Andy and I were driving into town on Thanksgiving morning, we realized that the lake was open for less than 28 weeks in 2013. Didn't really need that reminder that I live in the land of endless winter. Meh.

So did everyone have a good Thanksgiving?

We had a lovely, albeit it busy, few days around here. I worked on the annual community Thanksgiving dinner on both Wednesday (prep) and Thursday (actual cooking and serving) that our church puts on for anyone who doesn't feel like putting on a big Thanksgiving dinner themselves. We usually feed about 100 people each year. My contributions this year were a pumpkin and a cranberry/cherry pie. Despite my best efforts, my pumpkin pie did weep ever so slightly. Apparently the weeping happens when the filling gets overcooked and egg in the custard seizes up and starts squeezing out the filling's liquid, but I was too slow with my instant read thermometer to catch the pie before the filling passed 150 degrees. Better luck next time. And also, yes, I do have that much time on my hands to obsess over such things.

I didn't actual eat dinner at the church, but instead headed over to Andy's mom's house around 3 with a bag filled with leftovers. (Winning!). Apparently lots of people went non-traditional with their Thanksgiving "feasts" this year - we had sushi (not made from the aforementioned leftovers), my grandfather had fondue and my brother had pirogies. And no, I do not know what that is all  about.

The smoked herring is attacking!

I'm not afraid to admit that we went to bed at 9 on Thanksgiving night and that I was out like a light. It was a good day.

Did anyone brave Black Friday sales on Friday or (heaven forbid!) Thursday? For the most part I completed my Christmas shopping last weekend and am feeling incredibly on top of things and also not brokeity broke broke. (You can check out my tips for saving Christmas moola here.)  If you still need to pick up some things, remember the Cyber Monday sale going on over at Yes Sir, Yes Sir today. Get free shipping for any order with the coupon code SHIPFREE and today only, all orders over $25.00 receive a complimentary holiday ornament. 

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Off Our Arses, Into the Woods

So after declaring ourselves lazy bums on Tuesday, we knew we should probably shake off the winter blahs and actually head outside for some fresh air. We'd heard that a couple people had snowshoed on a nearby trail so we decided to head over to see if the path was firm enough to walk on with just boots. (While snowshoeing sounds awfully romantic, they're putzy and cumbersome - given my druthers, I always opt for just boots for winter walking.)

We've hiked this trail a few times before (here and here) and I spent a lot of time off the trail last summer in search of blueberries. The approximately 1 mile long trail leads to a 1600 + ft hill with a panoramic view of the surrounding woods. The trail has gotten a lot of use in the summer since it opened last spring, but it doesn't appear to get much winter traffic. That's too bad because when there's a packed trail, it's actually faster to hike in the winter because you don't have to pick your way over stray rocks and roots all the time. I think the view in the winter is just as nice as the summer view.

I hope you've had a chance to get out and enjoy some late winter sunshine. They say action is the antidote to despair, so if you're suffering from winter gloomies, your best bet just might be to get out in the winter world!  
 P.S. Need another excuse to get outside? The sun starts providing Vitamin D around March 15 at this latitude.

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