We long ago decided that Mother Nature is testing our resolve this winter - just making sure that we really want to do this thing - live year round in cottage country that is.

November, as you will recall from the prior posts was full of rain, flooding, wind and downed trees.

December was the month of non-stop snow.  It snowed and snowed and snowed and snowed.  Almost every day.  We plowed and shoveled almost non-stop (or so it seemed) until the holidays.  It was great that She decided we all deserved a break after the ice storm She delivered that brought the GTA to a grinding halt, but as a result we were not able to make use of the many young, strong hands we had available to us to assist with the shoveling. Oh well.  We enjoyed the break and lots of fun days with family - building a quinzee, snowshoeing on the lake, skiing and snowboarding at Sir Sam's.  Michael and I marked the turning of the year with our first starlit snowshoe on the lake.  It was very cold but the stars were twinkling and the moon was a waning sliver in the sky.  The best new year's eve we have enjoyed in a long time.

January has been the month of bitter frigid temperatures.  It was -31.9C on the morning of Jan 3rd.  This does NOT include windchill.  The following weekend it rained and when it turned cold again two days later our road turned into a 2.5km luge track.   We managed to get the jeep up the hill using the chains and then parked at the excavator parking lot and walked in and out the 1km to the cottage - wearing ice grippers on our boots.  I had a commitment in the city on Friday.  We managed to find chains for my car in Gravenhurst and I was able to make my way out (from the top of our driveway) on Thursday afternoon.  Hawk River came on Thursday night and sanded the road which helped some.  The irony was that we actually were hoping it would snow that week to cover the ice!

We didn't have to wait long for the bitter frigid cold temperatures to return with a vengeance!  Day after day of -25, -29 culminated in an ultimate low point of -35.4C on Jan 21.  The balm for our weather beaten souls was the sunshine.  We enjoyed several beautiful sunny days during January which helped to make the cold bearable, though it became frustrating that it was difficult to spend any length of time outside enjoying the sparkling snow.

I finally did venture out last Wednesday.  It was still well below -20C but the sun was shining brightly and the wind was minimal.  I strapped on my snowshoes and made my way around the lake.  It was glorious!  The snow was a sparkling blanket on the lake.  Birds were flitting among the trees, chirping and twittering.  There were a few animal tracks running across the lake, but the snow was largely unmarked.  As I approached the north end of the lake I noticed a strange imprint in the snow.  As I got closer I realized it must be the wing prints of a large bird of prey. 

The wing length was at least 12 inches.  Could this have been a snowy owl?  The level of feather detail from the wing tips and tail left in the snow was incredible.
A little further along there was evidence of a chase.

 I continued along the north shore of the lake and soon came upon evidence of a significant struggle. 

  

At the outer edge of this area I found the most beautiful print showing both wings and a full tail.  Amazing.

Further along from this successful kill was an area where tufts of feathers were scattered over the snow some distance from the site of another snatch and grab.  This time the prey seemed to be a smaller bird rather than a rodent. 

I would love to catch a glimpse of a snowy owl this winter.  I have never seen an owl in the wild.  So much to still discover and experience!

While this winter has been a logistical challenge both in terms of maintaining ingress/egress and finding ways to successfully brew in the cold from the cottage (another story - NO, the garage is NOT finished) we are managing to stay warm, remain largely positive and have been blessed with glimpses of the spectacular among the overwhelming daily beauty of this place.