Thanks, Sins. We are just fine. With that excellent wood stove, plenty of stove wood and water stored, and two people used to living simply, we enjoy such times and manage to lend a hand to neighbors when needed.

The chooks are tired of coop living, but happy and healthy otherwise, with a delicious Christmas dinner of veggies and melon trimmings. The inside chicken showed off her hard-won ability to stand and walk a few steps with a great excitement of clucks and feathers. You'd like her, I'm sure.

We could worry about our many fruit trees, all of which have inch-thick ice armor on and around every twig and branch, but it would do no good. We'll just see what happens. Snow tomorrow on top of ice- more exploding trees and power outages, I'd guess.

Stay warm, everyone.