-31°F this morning! There is frost on the walls inside this crappy house. The coldest I have ever seen was -45°F in the mid '90s (1996 maybe?). (There was frost on the walls then too!) Fortunately the furnace has not kicked on at all, and I have the thermostat set at 70°. The wood-burning stove has kept heating this drafty shack with no problem. Thank my ambition and resourcefulness for wood heat! We wouldn't be living here anymore if we were still without it.

Warmer weather coming. Matter of fact, I might just go for an ATV ride somewhere this weekend. I keep wrestling with the idea of becoming a snowmobile owner again, but I'm torn between the pure fun of it that may or may not happen for a few weekends every year, and the lack of usefulness and storage space the entire rest of the year. I guess if I found one for a few hundred dollars I might consider it. I would hate to leave it out in the woods under a tarp for who knows how long until it snows again though. It's so hard on them. But I would have to build another shed otherwise.

- Quads, hailing from Grand Marsh Observatory atop Elk Castle Hill