* Merry Christmas *

A particular comfort it is, sitting by the fire while the sun retires and night presses forth. At three in the afternoon, I sit by these glowing coals and stare at my furry fox friends who bare the temperatures with ease. Not a shiver or sign of chill have they shown despite being thirty below. Just the day before, out in what seemed the worst and minus twenty, I just needed to take advantage of the blue skies while they lasted. I am continually grooming the trails to the lower lake and only about half way through the woods. Constant defeat and agonizing labor to free the snow machine from holes it sinks into, getting stuck in powder and near cemented in, buried to the handles. I build ramps in front and dig away near the back to rock it free, and to my efforts, twenty feet further I find myself digging yet again. I do enjoy the mere fact of having something to do and although it is hard work, I can't shy away from it. After all, on the other side of these woods there is a village and a town with a grocery store should I choose to satisfy my most recent cravings.

Some days when the air is still, the trees covered in frost and not a noise is made in all the forest, I just sit watching and listening to absolutely nothing at all. On these especially cold days, there are many situations that can arise from nowhere and be quite surprising and consequential. Luckily I found out in time to spare a digit, but not without a stern warning. Frostbite. I understand why it is not called frost touch. Fortunately, I was done with chores outside and came in for the day, not realizing the condition of my fingers and it wasn't until the next day that I really knew the severity of the bite. Numb to the touch but throbbing inside. I have obtained just slight bite on the ears and fingers, and will be much more observant and tuned in to such pains from here on out.

My fox friend knew a good thing when he saw it and was reluctant to welcome another of his kind. What filled one mouth is now shared among two. Should a third venture this way, I may just cut them off cold turkey. I do have a soft spot for them. Curious, energetic and full of fight. They go at it and snarl, yelp and bark, attack each other, chasing and tackling and biting.... but they are both rewarded the same. I did manage a trout for the original one, the day before his companion showed up. Should they have had to fight for it, that would have been too much. They often sit outside my door in the day, come running in the waking hours of morning and come from who knows where in the night when closing the door. Each and every time I make a noise outside the cabin, they look with anticipation and often discontent when I close the door empty handed. Never failing, they are around in hopes of food.

How quickly the snow accumulates, two feet here and a foot there....  I do enjoy most things about a good hard snow fall and I can even enjoy the removal for a time, but those tiny snowflakes sure do become heavy and burdensome after too many hours. Who might have thought the soreness and aching in the muscles would be a result from the lightly falling crystals from above. Anyone who has held a shovel in hand would testify to their weight and not so innocent being. Yes they look harmless but that is simply not true. Another ten inches I woke to this very morning, and riding the trails again to maintain their existence and not make my previous labor in vain. When the wind whips across the snow fields, down from the mountain sides or across the lake, the trails in the open vanish in minutes. Constant packing and riding them will create a disruption to the aerodynamic flows, thus making faint distinctions between untouched powder traps and my trustworthy packed trail. When you spend as much time removing the snow as I do, you will understand the obsession with maintenance.

My frosty days are more frequent and the bitter cold more present as we near the beginning of official winter. Weeks pass like days and the only sign of time are tracks of myself and the animals around that tell the travels and business we have in this land. I judge a day by energy consumed and observe the quality by the amount of relaxation. Even work is relaxing in some instances. Bringing wood down for methodical stacking is quite cleansing to the mind and running the snow blower to push large amounts winter aside is pleasing to the body for the pain it defers. Even the tediousness of making kindling is pleasurable both for the honing of accuracy and for the product of the evening fire. I did miss one day and while perhaps too relaxed, I was slow to react. Nothing a bandage would not fix. All of these little wounds, misfortunes of falling in the river and slipping on ice add to the story of life up in the more wild parts of America.  I am careful, but even when crossing the t's and dotting i's, one can forget a period or two. I like to live my days with an exclamation mark.


Christmas is only one week away and soon January will be here. I know at the end of that month will be half way through and much to my amazement, I don't know where those days have gone. I have lived each one, some more painful than others but I do wonder how this has gone by so quickly. I do believe that the whole month of October was an adjustment time, not knowing just how to prepare mentally for the upcoming months. November was settling in nicely and was over before it began really and now December is snow and soon Christmas. Maybe the new year will bring new feelings of time and it will seem more drawn out. As the months are now, I agonize over the loss of each moment that mimics and resembles the next. Losing those moments and subsequently time from a lack of differentiating between the two. Likewise for days and weeks, painfully savoring but a memory from what could have held a dozen. It is safe to say each day that presents a new task or chore or irregularity is often welcomed, cherished to some degree and is the only variety or spice in my life. Those little things that switch up routine make all the difference in my world.

Christmas for everyone down south, I wish you all a very merry season with each other, a great time to be among those you care for and celebrate in true form the reason for this holiday. For all who endure the lines, in grocery stores and gas stations, I hope there is plenty of patience and tranquility to go around. I will celebrate with a nice dinner for myself and prepare something tasty for my fox friends. I think of you all often,