Bleak

The early winter has been bleak. The solar-powered streetlight at the junction with the highway has been out for days: not enough sun! Just as a long, gray day came to end, a lovely warm gleam of light appeared among the red pines in front of the workshop. 

Winter's Knives

 Winter is trying to stab us--again! Eventually I had to take a shovel to these spikes; they were pressing against the glass rather forcefully.

Serious Winter

 Winter is getting real. We have deployed the snowblower twice (blew another shear bolt; only one left now!), the new enclosure has already defended the fuel line from falling ice, and we've done the commuting crawl behind motorists without snow tires. 

Indoor Activities

With the weather outside quite UNIVITING, we've been working indoors. I finally made the frame for the attic hatch we installed something like 16 years ago. Having knocked off the 28-year-old oil tank job and the 25-year-old woodshed work, it's pleasant to get to tasks that have been hanging fire for less than two decades!

Bleak

 

This is rather a bleak landscape on my birthday; however, 

1) you don't have to shovel "bleak";

2) it only needs a gleam of sun to bring out the green.

We went for a little hike in the woodlot on the weekend; it was very wet. We needed rubber boots to reach the campsite, but in their absence, we turned back early.